Behavioral Willingness Research Articles

Examining the effect of nudging on college students' behavioral engagement and willingness to participate in online courses.

Nudging is a subtle behavioral intervention that has been successful in various domains such as healthy eating and energy conservation, yet its application in mental health remains underexplored. This study examines the effect of nudging to increase engagement with online mental health resources in a university setting. We assigned 2539 first-year undergraduate and graduate students in China to either a nudging group, which received course information augmented with behavioral cues (including framing effects and social norms), or a control group, which received only basic course information. Outcomes measured included self-reported willingness to enroll, willingness to recommend enrollment, and actual enrollment actions. Results indicated that students in the nudging group demonstrated significantly higher engagement levels than those in the control group across all metrics. These findings suggest the potential of nudging strategies to effectively enhance college students' participation in online mental health education.

The impact of social network and resource endowment of smallholders on sustainable apple production

PurposeSmallholders are essential in ensuring food security; however, smallholder-dominated food production often involves high resource-environmental costs. This study analyzed the factors that differentiate horticultural practices, willingness to adopt technology and social networks between optimized practices (OPT) and farmer practices (FP) to provide localized and systematic solutions for the sustainable apple production.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the approach of smallholder-dominated sustainable apple production, 257 apple producers in the Bohai Bay region, a major apple planting area in China, were investigated. Life cycle assessment (LCA), emergy analysis and social network analysis methods were used for evaluation.FindingsThe results showed that the net economic profit and emergy sustainability index (ESI) in OPT was 15.8 × 104 RMB·ha-1 and 1.2, respectively, which were 126.9 and 128.0% higher than FP. In contrast, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under OPT was 29.3% lower than those under FP. OPT has a higher percentage of adoption of scientific fertilizer application and water-saving irrigation technologies compared to FP. OPT has strong learning abilities, more social resources (such as technical training and sharing technical experience with others) and connections with stakeholders in the apple supply chain. Optimizing smallholders' social capital, willingness to adopt technology, behavioral willingness and technological awareness can promote sustainable apple production.Originality/valueConsidering the horticultural practices employed by smallholders in conjunction with their social networks, these factors contributed to the transition of smallholder-led apple production toward sustainability. The findings provided viable options and a theoretical basis for smallholder-dominated crop production to move toward sustainability, with significant implications for policymakers.

Consumers' Behavioral Willingness to Use Green Financial Products: An Empirical Study within a Theoretical Framework.

In an era marked by the expansion of the Internet economy and the intensification of environmental concerns, the convergence of digital finance and green finance has emerged as a significant global trend. China's Alipay Ant Forest, an innovative green financial product, has successfully quantified carbon emission reductions resulting from users' green consumption patterns, establishing the first carbon account-based green financial product and pioneering an innovative "green finance plus gamification" model. However, the academic literature has not fully explained the underlying mechanisms that drive consumer engagement with such green financial products. This study, motivated by the academic question of what factors influence consumers' willingness to use green financial products, employs Ant Forest as a case study and develops a novel structural equation model based on self-determination theory, customer-perceived value, and the technology acceptance model. The model incorporates user type as a control variable and considers autonomy, gamification, and bonuses as key independent variables, with customer-perceived value serving as a mediating variable. Data collection involved 606 participants, enabling a comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing users' willingness to engage with green financial products. The findings support the proposed hypothesis, identifying several significant predictors of users' willingness to use green financial products, with the exception of age. This study advances the theoretical understanding of consumer behavior towards green financial products by integrating self-determination theory, customer-perceived value, and the technology acceptance model, while also offering practical insights for marketing strategies. It explores the interface between digital finance, environmental sustainability, and consumer behavior, highlighting opportunities for financial institutions to leverage Internet applications to promote green financial services and enhance their marketing approaches to influence consumer adoption.

Exploring drivers of behavioral willingness to use clean energy to reduce environmental emissions in rural China: An extension of the UTAUT2 model

In the context of the dual-carbon target, the adoption of clean energy in rural areas is an important basis for achieving effective carbon reduction in rural areas. On the basis of the Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use (UTAUT2), this study uses structural equation modeling to investigate the influencing factors of rural clean energy adoption behavior. The results are as follows: (1) Both the expected effect of rural clean energy's adoption and adoption behavior are positively correlated with intention to adopt rural clean energy, whereas the rest are negatively correlated. The willingness to adopt clean energy has the greatest impact on clean energy adoption behavior in rural areas. (2) The expected effect of clean energy's adoption, subjective norms related to clean energy's adoption, facilitation of clean energy adoption support, and habits related to clean energy adoption have partial mediating effects on the impact of clean energy adoption intention. The reliability of clean energy's adoption has a full mediating effect on the impact of clean energy adoption intention. The perceived value of clean energy adoption has no significant mediating effect on the intention to adopt clean energy. (3) Age has a significant moderating effect on perceived value, related behaviors, and intention related to adopting clean energy; education level has no significant moderating effects on facilitation support or intention to adopt clean energy; and region has no significant moderating effects on facilitation support or adoption intention.

Impact of a psychoeducational intervention on willingness to seek help for depression among African American young adults.

Despite the success of psychoeducational interventions at improving willingness to seek professional help for mental illness, limited research explores the effect of culturally tailored psychoeducational interventions on African American (AA) college students. The objective of this study was to determine if exposure to a culturally relevant psychoeducational intervention impacted AA young adult attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, depression stigma, disclosure and willingness to seek help for depression. We conducted a one-group pre- and post-test intervention study of AA college students (N = 75). The 2.5-h intervention featured presentations, large-group discussions, videos, and active learning exercises and was guided by applying a cultural adaptation framework to an existing psychoeducational intervention. The self-administered surveys were created using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a guide. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests. A total of 70 participants completed both pre- and post-test surveys. Overall, willingness, attitude, and disclosure significantly increased after the intervention (p < .001). Additionally, depression stigma significantly decreased after the intervention, indicating fewer stigmatizing beliefs about depression (p < .001). Willingness to seek help for depression among AA college students can be improved through culturally relevant and interactive psychoeducational interventions. These interventions can also improve negative attitudes and perceived behavioral control toward seeking help and decrease stigmatizing beliefs. More research is needed to explore the longitudinal impact of culturally relevant psychoeducational interventions and how they may affect actual help-seeking behavior among AA college students.

Furry friends welcome! Investigating dog-owners’ perceived value of dining out with their pets

The number of dog owners increased due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the foodservice industry, a noticeable gap exists related to the perceived value that consumers derive from visiting pet-friendly restaurants with their dogs. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap using a scale development approach. Additionally, it seeks to identify the factors influencing consumers’ perceived value, purchase intentions, and willingness to pay a premium price for pet-friendly food services. This study identified eight dimensions of dog owners’ perceived value and confirmed the relationships between social norms and self-efficacy on dog owners’ perceived value. It also examined how perceived value influenced dog owners’ future behavioral intentions and willingness to pay a premium price. The findings of this study extend the understanding of consumers’ perceived value of pet-friendly food services and provide valuable suggestions for practitioners in the food service industry.

Closing the Gap: How Psychological Distance Influences Willingness to Engage in Risky COVID Behavior.

Pandemics, and other risk-related contexts, require dynamic changes in behavior as situations develop. Human behavior is influenced by both explicit (cognitive) and implicit (intuitive) factors. In this study, we used psychological distance as a lens to understand what influences our decision-making with regard to risk in the context of COVID-19. This study was based on the rationale that our relational needs are more concrete to us than the risk of the virus. First, we explored the impact of social-psychological distance on participants' risk perceptions and behavioral willingness. As hypothesized, we found that close social relationships of agents promoted willingness to engage in risky behavior. In the second phase, we tested an intervention designed to increase the concreteness of information about virus transmission as a mechanism to mitigate the bias of social influence. We found that the concreteness intervention resulted in significantly reduced willingness to engage in risky behavior. As such, communications aimed at changing the behavior of citizens during times of increased risk or danger should consider conceptually concrete messaging when communicating complex risk, and hence may provide a valuable tool in promoting health-related behavior.

Assessing Consumers’ Behavioral Intention and Willingness to Pay for Electric Vehicles: An Evidence from China

In an endeavor to reduce the severe environmental impacts of pollution and energy consumption, the Chinese government is strongly encouraging the use of electric vehicles. However, there is a paucity of research examining how much young Chinese buyers are prepared to spend on electric vehicles. In order to address this research gap, the current study expands on previously identified variables that affect consumer intentions. In addition, we expand the scientific basis of the theory of planned behavior by introducing three new variables: performance expectancy (PE), information overload (IO), and perceived risk (PR). The study analyzed survey responses from 498 young Chinese consumers and employed structural equation modeling to evaluate the formulated hypotheses. The results indicate that behavioral intention (BI) is positively and significantly influenced by perceived environmental knowledge and PE, but negatively impacted by IO. Additionally, subjective norms are found to be significantly and positively related to BI. The study also reveals that PR is strongly and favorably connected with BI. Moreover, willingness to pay (WTP) for electric vehicles has a positive relationship with BI. Overall, the research contributes to our understanding of ethical purchasing practices and provides essential research directions for both academicians and practitioners.

An Empirical Study on the Willingness and Behavior of Higher Vocational College Students to Participate in Modern Apprenticeship: Based on Theory of Planned Behavior

The modern apprenticeship system is an essential strategy for human resources development in China. It is the institutional carrier for training high-level technical and skilled talents. Based on the perspective of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a survey of 495 first-year college students’ willingness and behavior to participate in modern apprenticeship in N vocational college in Jiangsu Province found that perceived benefits, prescriptive norms, exemplary norms, external conditions, and self-efficacy have significant positive effects on college students’ willingness to participate in modern apprenticeship. Behavioral willingness and external conditions have a significant positive impact on college students’ participation in modern apprenticeship. Situational factors have a significant positive moderating effect on college students’ willingness and behavior to participate in modern apprenticeship. For this reason, the article proposes the following actions to push on modern apprenticeship. We should establish a high-quality employment security mechanism to enhance the inherent attraction of modern apprenticeship, attach importance to career planning education to improve students’ self-cognition, pay attention to career cognition education to enhance students’ career development awareness, improve the modern apprenticeship “1+X” certificate system to enhance college students’ sense of academic achievement.

Exploring drivers of behavioral willingness to reduce plastic consumption and socially responsible consumption behavior: A stimulus–organism–behavior–consequence paradigm based environmental management perspective

AbstractThis study examines the factors that drive behavioral willingness to reduce plastic consumption and socially responsible consumption behavior through the Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (S‐O‐B‐C) framework. The study involved 440 retail consumers from the United Arab Emirates, utilizing a four‐wave time‐lagged design. To investigate the hypotheses, the research employed structural equation modeling. The study results suggest that environmental consciousness and values are positively related to environmental knowledge and environmental self‐identity. Furthermore, environmental knowledge and environmental self‐identity are positively linked with the willingness to reduce plastic consumption, while socially responsible consumption behavior is positively associated with the willingness to reduce plastic consumption. Additionally, policy support positively moderated the connotation of environmental knowledge with behavioral willingness to reduce plastic consumption and socially responsible consumption behavior. The proposed S‐O‐B‐C framework enriches the literature on plastic consumption to understand retail consumers' perspectives in an emerging country context. The findings provide insights that will help practitioners and academics understand consumers' plastic consumption intention and formulate strategies that will increase the involvement of consumers in plastic conservation activities.

Lane management for mixed traffic flow on roadways considering the car-following behaviors of human-driven vehicles to follow connected and automated vehicles

The widespread adoption of emerging connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) highlights the need for identifying the roadway capacity of mixed traffic flow with CAVs and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) for future traffic management. Previous studies focus on analyzing the impacts of CAV technologies on the mixed traffic capacity. However, research on how different car-following behaviors of HDVs to follow CAVs affect the mixed traffic capacity is still lacking. This study proposes an analytical formulation of the mixed traffic capacity based on the probability distributions of HDVs and CAVs and three types of behavior willingness (i.e., believer, neutral, and skeptic) of HDV-following-CAV in a mixed traffic environment. The sufficient conditions are derived for mixed traffic capacity to increase or decrease with the behavior willingness and CAV penetration rate. Based on that, an analytical lane management (LM) model is further proposed to determine the optimal number of CAV dedicated lanes (CDLs) and CAV non-dedicated lane (CNL) strategies that maximize the mixed traffic throughput, considering the mixed traffic demand, behavior willingness, and CAV penetration rate. The results from numerical experiments show that the proposed LM strategies can significantly improve mixed traffic throughputs by deploying optimal CDLs and CNL strategies, compared to one without the LM strategy. The mixed traffic throughputs improve and reduce as the trust willingness and skeptic willingness increase and decrease, respectively. Moreover, the increment in CAV penetration rate does not certainly correspond to the high mixed traffic throughputs. The behavior willingness and heterogeneous headways could be jointly considered to guarantee the positive influences of CAV penetration rate on the mixed traffic throughputs when implementing the LM strategy for the mixed traffic flow.

A Study on the Impact of Economic Policies on Consumers’ Behavioral Intentions on Cross-border E-commerce Platforms

Abstract Given the expanding high-level opening to the outside world, there is a potential correlation between consumers’ behavioral patterns on cross-border e-commerce platforms and economic policies. This paper proposes a model for extracting consumer behavioral willingness features based on a convolutional neural network with sentence vector improvements, which optimizes the effect of cluster analysis on consumer behavioral willingness. The extraction model is utilized to extract consumer behavioral willingness features, and the outcomes demonstrate that the proportion of consumption and recommendation willingness is 47.65% and 52.05%, respectively, with a positive clustering effect. The regression results show that consumers’ behavioral willingness to cross-border e-commerce platforms increases with their preference for free trade and mixed trade policies, with an impact coefficient of 0.095 and 0.096. The degree of free trade simultaneously influences consumers’ willingness to recommend, with an impact coefficient of 0.154. However, the import substitution policy has an impact coefficient of −0.078, indicating that consumers are less likely to recommend cross-border e-commerce platforms to others.

Can tourists become disciples? The formation and mechanism of place conversion in traditional Chinese villages.

Place attachment has been extensively studied in the field of tourism. However, it is important to recognize that place attachment alone may not fully capture the emotional expression of tourists' spiritual beliefs and their sense of belonging to a destination. Therefore, a more comprehensive attachment theory is needed to encompass higher dimensions. This article focuses on the ancient Chinese villages of Yantou, Cangpo, and Furong from a tourist perspective, and introduces genius loci in architectural phenomenology. We set out to expand the study of spiritual dimensions of place attachment on the basis of local attachment, redefining tourists' place connection and putting forward the new concept of place conversion. A qualitative analysis of online text using Rooting theory was conducted to condense 22 categories into 6 main categories and establish a model. The study shows that the mechanism of place conversion is composed of situational perception (place perception and place identity), physical and mental immersion (spatio-temporal immersion and place conversion), and behavioral willingness (tourists intention and conversion behavior). The study has implications for the conservation and development of traditional villages and future research on the spiritual experiences of tourists.

Child restraint system use in China, comparing theory of planned behavior, prototype willingness model, and integrative model

BackgroundAlthough the child restraint system (CRS) helps safeguard children's bodies, its use is currently at an exceedingly low rate in China. Also, there is a dearth of research from a psychological perspective on the factors that affect CRS usage. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and prototype willingness model (PWM) are two of the main decision-making paradigms that have been extensively used in the research on risk-taking behavior. The rational and emotional aspects of decision-making are both covered by these theories. Two facets of decision-making, including the rational and the social-reactive, are studied by these theories. MethodsThis study investigated psychological factors that impact Chinese parents’ usage of CRS. Three models were compared and analyzed in the study: the TPB, the PWM, and an integrative model (which integrates the TPB and the PWM). ResultsThe integrative model has the highest explanatory strength and the TPB model has slightly lower explanatory strength than the PWM model; the effect of behavioral willingness on behavior is greater than the effect of behavioral intention on behavior. Prototype, perceived behavioral intention, and subjective norm are important factors influencing parents’ use of CRS.

From biospheric values to tourists’ ecological compensation behavioural willingness: a comprehensive model test based on the value-identity-personal norm and normative activation

This study introduced the emotional factor of empathy with nature and constructed a comprehensive model comprising the value-identity-personal norm and the normative activation models to examine the formation mechanism of tourists’ ecological compensation behavioural willingness (ECBW). Furthermore, it analysed the effects of biospheric values, environmental self-identity, empathy with nature, personal norms, and ascription of responsibility on ECBW via structural equation modelling. The findings show that except for the construct of biospheric values, all variables directly affect the ECBW. Environmental self-identity and empathy with nature fully mediate biospheric values and ECBW, respectively, suggesting that there is an arousal mechanism between biospheric values and ECBW. The comprehensive model in this study had a stronger predictive power in explaining ECBW than the two single models. This study revealed the formation mechanism of tourists’ ECBW and regards it as a subdimension of environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) with compensatory features that broaden the understanding of ERB. It also extends the theoretical framework of ERB research by focusing on specific natural-emotional factors. This study has management implications for tourism destinations to strengthen tourists’ ECBW.

Social Cognitive Theory and Willingness to Perform Recommended Health Behavior: The Moderating Role of Misperceptions

More than 6 million people have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to slow down the spread of COVID-19, health authorities have created numerous guidelines. In the current study, we use survey data from the U.S. and social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine the associations among self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and willingness to perform recommended COVID-19 related health behavior. Considering the misinformation-filled information ecology during the pandemic, we also examine the moderating role of misperceptions in these relationships. Our findings show that in general the SCT hypotheses hold for COVID-19 related behavior willingness. The interaction effects with COVID-19 misperceptions show that self-efficacy is not enough to understand people’s health behavior. Higher outcome expectancies are important and may be able to overcome even if people held high misperceptions. Our findings have direct implications for communication theory and for health organizations in the contemporary information ecology.

Investigating residents’ willingness to participate in urban edible landscaping: Perspectives from China

In the context of the persistent food crisis and shifting societal dynamics, the concept of ‘edible landscaping’ has garnered increasing attention. Edible landscaping entails integrating food production into urban green spaces, offering a novel approach to address both food security and environmental sustainability. However, in China, conflicts regarding urban green spaces have arisen due to inadequate legal framework and management strategies. Gaining a better understanding of residents’ behavioral intention and willingness to participate will provide support for future intervention measures by decision-makers. This study proposes an extended model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the effects of individual attributes on behavioral intentions. An online questionnaire survey was conducted in Hefei, China for hypotheses verification. The findings indicate that residents’ intention to participate in edible landscaping is influenced by perceived benefits and costs, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. Multi-group analyses reveal the moderating effects of past behavior, age, and gender on the proposed models. This study underscores the significance of promoting the benefits of edible landscaping while mitigating unfavorable factors. Additionally, it is important to consider the specific needs of different population groups. These findings have practical implications for future planning, implementation, and management of edible landscaping initiatives.

Migrant Worker's Social Networks and Collective Behavioral Willingness—A Whole Network Analysis

Migrant workers' social networks are an important source of social support in their collective behavior. This study adopts the whole network method and proposes a measure of accumulated social capital in social networks, which makes up for the insufficiency of direct social capital. It compares the heterogeneous effects of formal and informal networks and accumulated and direct social capital on migrant workers' collective behavioral willingness and dissects their interaction mechanism. The results indicate that informal networks are more conducive to collective behavioral willingness. The formal network is the regulator of the informal network, which can strengthen the effect of the informal network on migrant workers' collective behavioral willingness. Accumulated social capital more robustly affects collective behavioral willingness than direct social capital. Therefore, optimizing the measurement of social capital can help to grasp the social effects of social capital more comprehensively. To sum up, fully stimulating the role of informal network center members as a communication bridge between factory and ordinary migrant workers is conducive to promoting the positive coupling of formal and informal networks and improving governance efficiency.

When virtue is its own reward: How norms influence consumers’ willingness to recycle and reuse

Sustainable waste management is becoming increasingly difficult with rising populations and soaring consumption patterns. Better recycling and reuse practices not only provide economic and environmental benefits, but also align with the larger goal of promoting circularity. Applying the theory of normative social behavior, this study examines how subjective, personal, and descriptive norms influence New York State residents’ willingness to recycle and reuse, based on two rounds of survey data collected from representative samples (NStudy1 = 1010; NStudy2 = 1003). Results indicate that descriptive norm serves as the “initiator” and personal norm serves as the immediate “predictor” of behavioral willingness. These findings have practical implications for public communication about pro-environmental behaviors.

A Bayesian Network Perspective on an Attributional Model of Reactions Toward People with HIV

Objective. Attributional theory has been widely studied to understand the overall perceptions regarding people suffering from negative events such as an HIV infection. The aim of the present study is to test the overall attribution model and its influence on the willingness to help, considering emotional reactions related to an HIV-infected individual. Method. We used a Bayesian network to analyze the association between attributions of causality (blame, responsibility, and control), willingness to help, and emotional reactions (anger and sympathy) toward an HIV-infected patient. Three hundred and fifty-eight individuals participated in the study. Results. Using the overall model, we found two different results: Anger contributed to the cognitive processes of attribution, and sympathy contributed to the behavioral willingness to help the patient.