Individual Differences in the Predictions of Behavioral Intentions

Abstract

We examined individual differences in the formation of behavioral intentions by American female students. Within the frameworks of the Fishbein-Ajzen and Triandis models of behavioral intentions, we measured the relative emphasis given to intention predictors for 40 behavioral intentions and examined how this emphasis was related to authoritarianism. In addition, empirical evidence was sought for the conceptual distinction between a personal norm (internalized norm) and a subjective norm (perceptions of significant other' opinions concerning a given action). Relative to low authoritarians, high authoritarians took subjective norms less into account, placed greater emphasis on personal norms, and emphasized less the consequences of action in forming behavioral intentions. The results suggest that subjective and personal norms can be distinguished empirically.     

Predicting Intentions to Conserve Water From the Theory of Planned Behavior,Perceived Moral Obligation,and Perceived Water Right1

This study tested the explanatory power of Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a modified TPB model including perceived moral obligation (PMO) and perceived water right (PWR), to predict people's intentions to conserve water. The study had 244 government employees who participated. The TPB variables improved the prediction of intention to use less water, but were less successful in predicting intention to install water-efficient appliances. A significant interaction was found between attitude and subjective norm, suggesting that past studies have overlooked moderating effects in the TPB model. In addition to the TPB variables, PWR further improved the prediction of intention to install water-efficient appliances. Results also suggest that water-saving procedures should be differentiated into curtailment and efficiency procedures.     

The Role of Individual Differences in the Accuracy of Confidence Judgments

Generally, self-assessment of accuracy in the cognitive domain produces overconfidence, whereas self-assessment of visual perceptual judgments results in under-confidence. Despite contrary empirical evidence, in models attempting to explain those phenomena, individual differences have often been disregarded. The authors report on 2 studies in which that shortcoming was addressed. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 520) completed a large number of cognitive-ability tests. Results indicated that individual differences provide a meaningful source of overconfidence and that a metacognitive trait might mediate that effect. In further analysis, there was only a relatively small correlation between test accuracy and confidence bias. In Experiment 2 (N = 107 participants), both perceptual and cognitive ability tests were included, along with measures of personality. Results again indicated the presence of a confidence factor that transcended the nature of the testing vehicle. Furthermore, a small relationship was found between that factor and some self-reported personality measures. Thus, personality traits and cognitive ability appeared to play only a small role in determining the accuracy of self-assessment. Collectively, the present results suggest that there are multiple causes of miscalibration, which current models of over- and underconfidence fail to encompass.     

Recruiting Global Travelers: The Role of Global Travel Recruitment Messages and Individual Differences in Perceived Fit,Attraction, and Job Pursuit Intentions

Organizations often require managers to travel globally to fill international roles. Attending to fit with an organization's need for international mobility and global openness during recruiting could increase the proportion of effective global managers in an organization's applicant pool. We use recruitment research and theory to develop and test a conditional process model of the relationship between recruitment messages and job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions, depending on job seekers’ global openness and willingness to travel globally. Recruitment messages include information about a job's travel requirements and the global presence of the business. Two studies were undertaken to test our hypotheses. Analyses were conducted with conditional process modeling using nonlinear bootstrapping. Study 1, involving 230 job seekers, found that applicants’ willingness to travel interacted with recruiting messages about a job's global travel requirements to relate to job pursuit intentions through perceived job fit and job attraction. Study 2, involving 260 participants recruited through Mechanical Turk, indicated that global openness interacted with a global recruitment message, and willingness to travel interacted with a travel recruitment message, to relate to job pursuit intentions through job and organizational dimensions of perceived fit and attraction.     

Local Identity and the Role of Individual Differences in the Use of Natural Resources: The Case of Water Consumption1

A field study assessed the role of social value orientation (SVO) and identification with the local community on water conservation behavior in Italy. Participants (N = 758) completed a self‐reported questionnaire, during summer and Easter time. It was expected that SVO and local identification would affect cooperation in conserving water resources. Consistent with the hypotheses, the highest levels of voluntary cooperation were detected among prosocial persons with high local identity, while the lowest levels of cooperation were detected among proself persons with low local identity. Other factors (e.g., perception of local authority's legitimacy, place of residence, severity of water scarcity condition) did not affect the hypothesized interaction. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Predicting Contraceptive Behavior Among University Men: The Role of Emotions and Behavioral Intentions1

This research employed two theories to predict contraceptive behavior (condom use) among university men. The sexual behavior sequence (Byrne, 1977, 1983) hypothesizes that erotophobia-erotophilia (negative to positive emotional response to sexuality) will generalize and mediate avoidance or approach of contraception. The theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) hypothesizes that condom use behavior (B) is a function of behavioral intentions (BI) to perform this act; BI is hypothesized to be a function of attitudes towards the act (Aact) and relevant subjective norms (SN), and Aact and SN in turn have hypothesized basic determinants (). In addition, the theory of reasoned action holds that variables external to this model (i.e., erotophobia-erotophilia) may only affect behavior indirectly, by affecting the model's components. To test these assumptions, 145 undergraduate males completed measures of erotophobia-erotophilia and BI, Aact, SN, and and with respect to condom use in the coming month; a one month follow-up measure of B was also obtained. Results confirmed each of the hypothesized relationships and showed that for subjects who had sex during the month under study (N= 44), erotophobia-erotophilia and behavioral intentions were related to condom use (r= .33, r= .44, p < .05). Moreover, in contrast to the assumption of the theory of reasoned action, erotophobia-erotophilia and intentions independently predicted condom use; the linear combination of these factors predicted condom use significantly better (R= .57, p < .001) than either factor taken singly. Conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Confidence in Dyadic Decision Making: The Role of Individual Differences

Groups typically express more confidence than individuals, yet how individual‐level confidence combines during collaborative decision tasks is not well understood. We prescreened 686 community members using a novel confidence measure (a true/false trivia test) intentionally designed to be difficult (accuracy rates were not significantly better than chance) and randomly assigned 72 individuals to collaborate on a matched version of the same test in dyads composed of two low‐confidence individuals, two high‐confidence individuals, or one of each (“mixed”). Consistent with past research, we found that the confidence expressed by dyads was higher than the confidence expressed by individuals; importantly, however, this pattern varied markedly by dyad type, with low‐confidence dyads showing the largest increase, mixed dyads showing a moderate increase, and high‐confidence dyads showing no increase—despite the fact that all dyads showed similarly low accuracy (about 55%). These results highlight the conditions under which groups express greater confidence than individuals and offer insights for the composition of collaborative decision‐making teams. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual Differences in Affective,Evaluative, and Behavioral Responses to an Erotic Film1

The current research sought to replicate and explore further unexpected pilot data indicating that negative reactions to filmed erotica may be associated with post-exposure increases in sexual activity. Subjects (31 males, 31 females) viewed an erotic film; background variables, affective, evaluative, and sexual-behavioral responses were assessed. Compared to individuals who evaluated the film as relatively nonpornographic, those who rated it as pornographic reported more restrictive sexual socialization experiences and more negative attitudes towards sex, responded to the film with more negative affect, and showed greater increases in sexual activity subsequent to exposure (all p <.05). Additional analyses provided some evidence that evaluations mediated behavioral responses to the stimulus. Cognitive labeling, transfer of arousal, and disinhibition considerations which may account for the relationship between responses to erotica and post-exposure sexual activity were discussed.     

The Power to Detect and Predict Individual Differences in Intra-Individual Variability Using the Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Model

Our goal is to provide empirical scientists with practical tools and advice with which to test hypotheses related to individual differences in intra-individual variability using the mixed-effects location-scale model. To that end, we evaluate Type I error rates and power to detect and predict individual differences in intra-individual variability using this model and provide empirically-based guidelines for building scale models that include random and/or systematically-varying fixed effects. We also provide two power simulation programs that allow researchers to conduct a priori empirical power analyses. Our results aligned with statistical power theory, in that, greater power was observed for designs with more individuals, more repeated occasions, greater proportions of variance available to be explained, and larger effect sizes. In addition, our results indicated that Type I error rates were acceptable in situations when individual differences in intra-individual variability were not initially detectable as well as when the scale-model individual-level predictor explained all initially detectable individual differences in intra-individual variability. We conclude our paper by providing study design and model building advice for those interested in using the mixed-effects location-scale model in practice.     

The Effect of Individual Differences in Factor Loadings on the Standard Factor Model

It is shown that the population-covariance matrix of a heterogeneous factor model may be indistinguishable from that of a standard factor model and that the standard likelihood-ratio goodness-of-fit statistic has but little power in detecting loading heterogeneity. The relation between loading heterogeneity and factor score reliability is studied and it is recommended that non-normality of the test-score distributions be tested to use factor scores with more confidence. Substantive justifications for the model assumptions and model-based methods to test specific hypotheses about the loading distribution, are discussed.     

Job Insecurity and Turnover Intentions: Gender Differences and the Mediating Role of Work Engagement

The present study tests an integrative model that considers differential gender effects for the mediating role of work engagement on the relationship between job insecurity and turnover intentions in a predominantly Muslim country. Job insecurity was divided into two aspects: general concerns about losing one’s job and concerns about losing the privileges (such as career advancement, stimulating work, competence, and pay development) that come from one’s specific job. Data were collected from 309 private banking employees (107 women, 202 men, with a mean age of 33.58) in Marmara region, Turkey. The results of multi-group path analysis partially support the hypotheses. The differential gender effects for the mediating effect of work engagement were supported only on the concerns about losing job privileges→turnover intention linkage, but not on the concerns about losing the job itself→turnover intention linkage. Moreover, the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between concerns about losing job privileges and turnover intention was found to be stronger for women than for men. For men, work engagement acts only as a partial mediator, suggesting that concerns about the loss of job privileges exerts its effects on turnover intentions both directly and indirectly. Although the direct effect of concerns about losing the job itself on turnover intention is significant, the indirect effect through work engagement turns out to be nonsignificant for both genders. Our findings are discussed considering the business environment in Turkey as a Muslim country.     

Effects of Individual Differences on the Perceived Job Relatedness of a Cognitive Ability Test and a Multimedia Situational Judgment Test

Although there is a growing number of publications concerning applicant reactions to different selection instruments, the relationships between individual differences and applicant reactions have largely remained unexplored. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of several testing‐related and general individual differences (anxiety, self‐evaluations, and personality) on the most commonly studied dimension of applicant reactions, namely the perceived job relatedness of selection instruments. Participants were 153 psychology students, who completed a cognitive ability test and a multimedia situational judgment test as part of their educational program. Our results indicated that computer anxiety negatively affected perceived job relatedness and core self‐evaluations, subjective well‐being, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience positively affected perceived job relatedness. Openness to experience was the most consistent predictor of perceived job relatedness. The results of our study suggest that certain individuals may be more predisposed to react positively to selection instruments. Therefore, we concluded that the nature of the applicant pool should be carefully considered when designing interventions to improve applicant reactions.     

Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity: Comparisons and Evaluations of Paper-and-Pencil versus Behavioral Measures

Sixty-eight undergraduate students experienced 32 hands-on tasks designed to provide a behavioral validation for the paper-and-pencil Disgust Scale, which the students had completed 2 months before. Tasks assessed participant-determined degree of exposure (looking at, picking up, touching, and in some cases eating) to objects such as a cockroach, cremated ashes, and a freshly killed pig's head and to disgusting video clips (seconds watching). These tasks elicited strong negative affect in a way that was ethical and not very disturbing to participants; they may be useful for future laboratory study of emotion. Participants also experienced nondisgusting control tasks, such as imitating a chicken or holding one's hand in ice-water. Analysis of task intercorrelations indicated four factors: food-related disgust, body-violation-and-death-related disgust, compliance motivation, and embarrassability. Only the two disgust factors correlated significantly with the paper-and-pencil Disgust Scale; a combination of the two correlated .58 with Disgust Scale scores obtained months before the laboratory assessment and correlated .71 with scores obtained immediately after this assessment. Most generally, these results are a reminder that there is no gold standard for personality assessment. As with paper-and-pencil measures, behavioral measures require getting beyond face validity to assess threats to validity from factors such as embarrassment and compliance motivation.     

Attributions About Acquaintance Rape: The Role of Alcohol and Individual Differences1

Reactions to an acquaintance rape scenario were examined for effects of respondent gender and portrayals of different levels of alcohol intoxication on attributions of responsibility and blame. Comparisons of conditions in which both victim and perpetrator were described as experiencing equivalent levels of intoxication revealed that participants rated the victim as more, but the perpetrator as less, responsible and blameworthy after consuming alcohol-particularly when drinking was accompanied by clear signs of behavioral impairment. In contrast, when the victim was more intoxicated and impaired than her assailant, intoxication of the perpetrator did not serve to excuse his behavior, but actually incriminated him more. Women generally assigned more blame to the victim. Individual differences in rape myth acceptance also influenced attributions.     

Protection Motivation Theory and Skin Cancer Risk: The Role of Individual Differences in Responses to Persuasive Appeals

Undergraduates who sunbathed were assessed on personality variables and then randomly assigned to read one of 4 essays (with photos) that manipulated threat and coping appraisal information about sunbathing, skin damage, and skin cancer symptoms and prevention. High threat-appraisal information was by far the most powerful predictor of intentions to take precautionary measures against skin cancer. Coping appraisal information was associated with reduced perceptions of hopelessness concerning skin cancer risk. Individual-difference variables (i.e., appearance concern, need for cognition, health locus of control) predicted maladaptive coping modes and, to a lesser extent, adaptive behavioral intentions. Results suggest that tailoring persuasive appeals to individuals may modestly improve preventive efforts, and that invoking perceived threat effectively motivates most people.     

Workplace Sexual Harassment Perceptions in the Turkish Context and the Role of Individual Differences

The major purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of workplace sexual harassment in the Turkish context. In Study 1, 53 working women were interviewed to identify culture‐relevant behaviors that are considered to be sexual harassment. In Study 2, the factor structure of perceptions was explored. In addition, the way in which these perceptions are related to personal variables (i.e. gender role attitudes, self‐esteem, and negative affectivity) was investigated. Participants were 353 women currently employed at various organisations. Five factors were identified: sexist hostility, insinuation of interest, sexual hostility, physical sexual offense, and sexual bribery and coercion. Each factor was regressed on the personal variables. After controlling for relevant demographic and organisational variables, gender role attitudes, self‐esteem, and negative affectivity predicted sexual harassment perceptions. Specifically, negative affectivity predicted milder forms of harassment, attitudes predicted factors that are considered more severe, and self‐esteem predicted all factors but sexist hostility. The extent to which sexual harassment manifestations are universal and how certain manifestations that appeared in the Turkish context broaden the scope of sexual harassment are discussed by referring to the US literature. L’objectif central de cette recherche était l’étude de la perception du harcèlement sexuel au travail en Turquie. Dans une première phase, on a interviewé 53 salariées pour déterminer les comportements relevant du harcèlement sexuel dans ce contexte culturel. Dans une deuxième phase, on a recherché la structure factorielle des perceptions. On a aussi étudié les liens de ces perceptions avec des variables personnelles (Attitudes en rapport avec le rôle découlant du genre, estime de soi et affectivité négative). Les sujets étaient 353 femmes employées dans diverses organisations. Cinq facteurs sont apparus : hostilité sexiste, attirance sous‐entendue, hostilité sexuelle, agression sexuelle physique, coercition et corruption sexuelles. Chaque facteur a subi une analyse de régression sur les variables personnelles. En contrôlant de façon appropriée les variables démographiques et organisationnelles, les attitudes en rapport avec le rôle découlant du genre, l’estime de soi et l’affectivité négative prédisent la perception du harcèlement sexuel. En particulier, l’affectivité négative prédit les formes légères de harcèlement, les attitudes prédisent les facteurs considérés comme plus graves et l’estime de soi prédit tous les facteurs sauf l’hostilité sexiste. On discute à partir de la littérature américaine de l’universalité du harcèlement sexuel et du fait que certaines manifestations propres à la Turquie élargissent le champ de ce harcèlement.     

Unconscious Unease and Self-Handicapping: Behavioral Consequences of Individual Differences in Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem

In contrast to measures of explicit self-esteem, which assess introspectively accessible self-evaluations, measures of implicit self-esteem assess the valence of unconscious, introspectively inaccessible associations to the self. This experiment is the first to document a relationship between individual differences in implicit self-esteem and social behavior. Participants completed either a self-relevant or a self-irrelevant interview, and were then rated bythe interviewer on their anxiety. When the interview was self-relevant, apparent anxiety was greater for participants low in implicit self-esteem than for participants high in self-esteem; implicit self-esteem did not predict anxiety when the interview was self-irrelevant. Explicit self-esteem did not predict apparent anxiety in either interview, but did predict participants' explicit self-judgments of anxiety. Self-handicapping about interview performance was greater for participants low in both explicit and implicit self-esteem than for those high in these measures. The experiment provides direct evidence that effects of implicit and explicit self-esteem may be dissociated.     

A Conceptualization and Test of the Influences of Individual Differences in Goal-Setting Situations1

This research tests a hypothesized model of the relationships among several individual differences and variables associated with the setting of goals. Participants were randomly assigned to a self-set goal condition, or to moderately or very-difficult assigned-goal conditions. By aggregating scores of performance, personal goals, ratings of self-efficacy, and goal commitment over multiple goal-setting and task-performance occasions, the overall relationships among these variables and need for achievement, self-esteem, and locus of control were determined. Results provide strong support for Locke and Latham's (1990a, 1990b) model of the goal-performance relation, but fail to support the hypothesized role of individual differences. The implications of these findings and individual differences in goal-setting situations are discussed.     

Cultural Adjustment and Social Justice Behaviour: The Role of Individual Differences in Multicultural Personality

The present study examined altruistic behaviour using broad personality traits (the Big Five) and the narrow personality trait of cultural adjustment (multicultural personality) while controlling for social justice attitudes and other demographic variables. Using an analogue version of a modified dictator game, 153 participants were required to divide a variable amount of money between themselves and a hypothetical recipient who was treated unfairly in a prior dictator game (based on results from a separate sample). We varied the race (Black and White) and gender (male and female) of the fictional recipient to present the individual as either advantaged or disadvantaged in society. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions with the recipient presented as (i) a White man, (ii) a White woman, or (iii) a Black man. A separate sample of 71 participants rated recipients as treated unfairly and as representing a marginalized group. Results showed that subscales of the Multicultural Personality Inventory predicted giving behaviour above and beyond the variance accounted for by broad personality traits and attitudes towards social justice. The discussion focuses on implications for research in social justice based on cultural adaptation and personality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology