An analysis of attitudinal and normative variables as predictors of intentions and behavior

A questionnaire was developed to test the hypothesis that an individual's intention to perform a given behavior is a function of (a) his attitude toward performing that behavior and/or (b) his normative beliefs about what others think he should do, weighted by his motivation to comply with those others. It was also hypothesized that an individual's beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior, weighted by his evaluation of those consequences, should be highly related to his attitude toward performing that behavior. Both hypotheses were supported. In addition, it was found that specificity of the attitude measure was a crucial mediator of the attitude‐intention relationship.