Antecedents of Instrumental Interpersonal Help‐Seeking: An Integrative Review

Drawing from research across various fields of psychology—social, educational, organisational, counseling and clinical psychology—this paper provides an integrative review of the antecedents of interpersonal help‐seeking behavior. Predicated on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the proposed model describes how person, task, and situation factors influence individuals' decision to seek interpersonal help for goal‐directed or instrumental purposes. This paper also contributes to help‐seeking research by (i) adopting a constellation approach to examine how various salient beliefs mediate between these exogenous factors and people's help‐seeking decision and behavior, (ii) providing a multi‐level perspective on help‐seeking behavior, and by (iii) highlighting the moderating role of expectancy in people's decision to seek interpersonal help.