Predicting Intentions of Forest Fire Preventive Behavior: An Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action

Abstract

The main purposes of this study are to construct a fire-risk prediction model based on a social psychology theory and to test the constructed model. Modifying the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), a conceptual model including 7 variables of fire-use intentions was constructed in this study. Two hundred and ninety hikers (n=290) traveling on the Yushan Trail from August 1998 to February 1999 were sampled to test the proposed model. The proposed model showed significant correlation between fire behavioral intentions and attitude, subjective norm, personal importance, and past experience concerning fire usage. The proposed model then was tested through multiple regression analysis. The regression coefficient is significant (R^2=0.83). The results of the present study suggest that social psychological theories, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action, can be adopted to help in the construction of a human-caused fire predicting system in the future.