Moderators of Perceived Behavioral Control's Predictiveness in the Theory of Planned Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

A meta‐analysis of the theory of planned behavior is conducted to (a) assess the robustness of the theory and (b) delineate conditions that moderate support for the theory. The results indicate that the pairwise relations featuring perceived behavioral control cannot be considered homogeneous across studies. Using a matrix of aggregated effect sizes, a causal model was estimated to assess the significance of the causal relations specified in the theory. The model performed well, with perceived behavioral control serving as an antecedent to both behavioral intention and behavior. Furthermore, conditions under which perceived behavioral control can be expected to be a stronger versus a weaker predictor of behavior and behavioral intention are identified. Four such moderators are identified, and causal models are estimated at each level of the moderator. The results show that perceived behavioral control is a stronger predictor of behavior when it (a) is operationalized as a global (vs. belief‐based) measure, (b) is conceptualized to reflect control over factors primarily internal (vs. external) to an individual, and (c) is used for nonstudent (vs. student) samples and familiar (vs. unfamiliar) behaviors. Perceived behavioral control is found to be a stronger predictor of behavioral intention with student (vs. nonstudent) samples and familiar (vs. unfamiliar) behaviors and is equally predictive under the operationalization (global or belief) and conceptualization (internal or external control) moderators.