Bridging Intention-Behavior Gap through Implementation Intention: Conceptual Insight

Abstract

The gap between intention and behavior is considered as a psychological state of the individual to perform any planned action. Scholars define this gap by implementation intention, and they argue the impact of implementation intention to transform intention into an action. It can be argued that this transformation is much more relevant and important in Entrepreneurship as it entails a series of planned actions. Thus, entrepreneurs must play a major role in converting intention to actions/behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept “implantation intention” to bridge the gap between intention and behavior from entrepreneurial perspective. A thorough literature review and integration of prominent psychological and social psychology theories are used to conceptualize the implementation intention. Further, empirical review shows its impact as a mediating and moderating variable in understanding the link between intention and behavior. This review provides meaningful insights to understand and link intention and behavior. Further increased understanding helps to enhance intention-based behaviors and positive impact can be expected on performance. There is a dearth of scholarly investigation on implementation intention in entrepreneurship. Thus, this paper contributes the field of entrepreneurship by exploring the role of implementation intention in an entrepreneurial perspective.