Choice Intentions Research Articles

It's All About Kids: Preventing Overweight in Elementary School Children in Tulsa, OK

In response to the increased incidence of child overweight, a school-based program, It's All About Kids, was designed by the Tulsa Health Department, Tulsa Public Schools, and community partners to improve food choices and increase physical activity of students in first through fifth grade. The nutrition component consisted of six weekly 30-minute experiential, age-appropriate classroom lessons, including healthful-eating food games, taste-testing foods, whole-grain bread baking, information on portion sizes, and food demonstrations. Documenting and evaluating school-based intervention programs is critical for setting evidence-based health policy, justifying funding, and achieving broader implementation of successful interventions. To evaluate the effectiveness of the It's All About Kids nutrition component in fourth-grade children, we conducted a controlled trial from 20 fourth-grade classes in five intervention and five comparison Title I public schools. Evaluation included 140 fourth-grade students, including 69 in the comparison group and 71 in the intervention group. Outcomes were measured by pre-, post-, and follow-up tests using a modified version of the Pathways Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors questionnaire and the Child and Adolescent Trial of Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) Food Checklist. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance over time controlling for sex, paired samples t tests, and independent samples t tests. Intervention students had significant improvements in knowledge of which food had more fat ( P<0.043). Intervention students' behavioral intent scale scores for food choice intentions improved significantly ( P<0.014). Self-reported consumption of saturated fat and sodium improved considerably in both intervention and comparison students. We conclude that results support a broader program implementation. More reinforcement over time may be needed to sustain the level of improvement.

Discrepancy between Snack Choice Intentions and Behavior

Objective To investigate dietary constructs that affect the discrepancy between intentioned and actual snack choice. Design Participants indicated their intentioned snack choice from a set of 4 snacks (2 healthful, 2 unhealthful). One week later, they actually chose a snack from the same set. Within 1 week after the actual choice, they completed a questionnaire that evaluated several dietary constructs. Setting Worksite cafeterias. Participants Office employees in the Netherlands (N = 585, 65% male, mean age 39.6 years [standard deviation = 9.2], 83% highly educated). Main Outcome Measures Snack choice intentions and actual snack choices (healthful vs unhealthful). Demographic and dietary constructs. Analysis Student t tests, chi-square tests, and logistic regression ( P < .05). Results Forty-nine percent of the participants (n = 285) intended to choose a healthful snack. Of this group, 27% (n = 78) chose an unhealthful snack instead. Ninety-two percent (n = 276) of the unhealthful intenders did indeed choose an unhealthful snack. None of the dietary constructs significantly predicted the failure to enact a healthful snack choice intention. Conclusions and Implications Although a substantial discrepancy between healthful intentions and actual snack choice was demonstrated, the evaluated constructs do not adequately measure the psychological process by which intention is converted into practice. Further studies are required to further investigate this process.

Career Choice Goals: The Contribution of Vocational Interests, Contextual Support, and Contextual Barrier

Based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) (Lent & Brown, 2006; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000), this study empirically investigated the influences of vocational interests, environmental support, and barrier on career choice intentions to working in hospitality and tourism organizations among the fourth‐year undergraduate tourism and hospitality college (UTHC) students in Hainan Island of China. Three hundred and ten fourth‐year UTHC students from two institutions of tourism higher education on the island formed the sample group. Following SCCT theory, blocks of the vocational interests, contextual supports, and contextual barriers were, sequentially, entered into a hierarchical regression predicting the level of career choice goals. With the addition of each block, R2 rose, significantly, from 0.354, to 0.386, and to 0.410 for the total sample. Also, briefly discussed are the study's findings as well as their implications from a tourism and hospitality human resources management perspective. 基于社会认知职业选择理论(简称“SCCT”理论)(Lent & Brown, 2006; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000)，本研究提出了大学生职业兴趣和环境支持与环境障碍对其职业选择目标的直接影响模型。然后，以中国海南岛两所高等院校310名旅游管理专业四年级本科生(简称“UTHC”学生)为例，对该模型进行了实证检验。在研究方法上，本研究采用层级多元回归分析法，依次将职业兴趣类、环境支持类和环境障碍类自变量进入回归模型建立线性回归方程，对职业选择目标(因变量)之变异的解释力指标R2分别显著性地从 35.4%，增加到38.64%，再增加到 41.0%。据此，SCCT 理论和本研究所提出的相应的研究假设，得到了支持性的验证。最后，本文就这些研究假设成立的原因以及上述研究发现对如何有效开发和管理好旅游业潜在的UTHC人力资源的问题，也进行了简要的探讨。

Collective intention, social identity, and rational choice

In this paper I propose that what social psychologists refer to as social identity is a plausible empirical correlate on the part of the individual to what some philosophers and economists call collective intention. A discussion of an experiment yields the question what kind of mental state social identity might be and how it is related to the standard desire/belief conception. It is argued that social identity involves both a desire and a belief, and that one distinguishing feature of it is that it makes individual choice parametric.

Correlates of Overweight and Obesity in American Indian Children

To identify risk factors that may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of overweight and obesity in American Indian children. The sample consisted of 291 tribally enrolled American Indian children. Body mass index (BMI) was measured by a tribal program and children completed self-report measures during health class. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for 232 children and included three blocks of predictor variables (diet and physical activity, weight-related attitudes, and psychosocial variables). Thirty-three percent of children were obese and 20% were overweight. Diet and physical activity (7.6%) and weight-related attitudes (31.9%) made significant contributions, explaining 39.5% of the variance in BMI. Greater BMI scores were related to healthier food choice intentions, more hours of television viewing, greater body dissatisfaction, higher negative attitudes toward body size, and more weight loss attempts.

The Influence of Perceived Interviewer and Job and Organizational Characteristics on Applicant Attraction and Job Choice Intentions: The role of applicant anxiety

This study examined whether interviewer characteristics have (a) a direct influence on applicant attraction and job choice intentions, (b) an indirect influence via job and organizational characteristics, and (c) direct influence on applicant anxiety. A sample of graduate applicants (N=450) was surveyed before a selection interview (Time 1) and after the employment interview (Time 2). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized model. The results showed that interviewer characteristics (warmth, unfriendliness, job knowledge, general competence and humor) had both a direct and indirect effect on applicant attraction and job choice intentions. In addition, interviewer characteristics had a significant positive impact on applicant anxiety. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Predictors of the consistency between healthy snack choice intentions and actual behaviour

The present study investigated the factors that affect the intention–behaviour consistency of healthy snack choices. Intended snack choice was assessed by asking participants ( N = 538) to choose a snack on paper, out of 8 snacks (4 healthy, e.g. melon and gingerbread, and 4 unhealthy, e.g. crisps and chocolate). The next day participants chose one out of 8 different snacks for actual consumption. Participants completed a questionnaire about attitudes towards taste and health, habitual snack use, self-control, anticipated regret, and pleasantness of the snacks. Results showed that 24% of the participants with a healthy snack choice intention chose an unhealthy snack instead. Female gender, a high education level, a strong habitual healthy snack use, and a strong self-control increased the healthy intention–behaviour consistency. To facilitate healthy choices, interventions should target males and lower educated people, and focus on increasing their healthy snacking habit and self-control.

Parental influence on youth propensity to join the military

The purpose of this research was to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in a model of youths’ career choice intentions and parents’ recommendation intentions. Specifically, a TPB model was developed for youth-parent dyads and tested with SEM to examine parental influence on youth intentions as well as behavior. Results indicated that a modified TPB model is useful for describing how youth and parent beliefs translate into enlistment intentions and pre-enlistment behavior. The strongest impact parents appeared to have on their children was through efficacy beliefs, followed by the link between parents’ attitudes and youths’ normative beliefs. Implications for recruitment and outreach efforts are discussed.

Person-organization fit and work-related attitudes and decisions: Examining interactive effects with job fit and conscientiousness.

This study examined boundary conditions that surround the importance of perceived person-organization (P-O) fit for work-related attitudes and decisions. The authors hypothesized that P-O fit is more strongly related to satisfaction and job choice decisions when needs-supplies (N-S) job fit or demands-abilities (D-A) job fit is low, and that P-O fit is more strongly related to job choice decisions for highly conscientious individuals. Hypotheses were tested among 299 participants in a 12-week internship program. Results indicated that P-O fit was more strongly related to satisfaction when individuals experienced low N-S job fit. P-O fit was more strongly related to job choice intentions when individuals experienced low D-A job fit or were highly conscientious. Finally, P-O fit was related to job offer acceptance for highly conscientious individuals.

Math interest and choice intentions of non-traditional African-American college students

This study investigated the application of the social-cognitive career theory (SCCT) ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) to the math interest and choice intentions of non-traditional African-American college student population. The associations between the social-cognitive constructs were examined to identify their relation to math interest and choice intentions. The participants were 156 college students enrolled at a Midwestern, predominantly African-American university. The results supported the application of this model to the non-traditional population. Math self-efficacy was the strongest factor in developing and predicting math interest and choice intentions. The link between outcome expectations and choice intentions was not evident. Implications for future research are discussed.

A future career in general practice? A longitudinal study of medical students and pre-registration house officers

Objective: To monitor the future career preferences of medical students throughout their undergraduate years and into their postgraduate career, and to evaluate which factors may influence career choice intentions, and when this happens, over time. Design: Longitudinal study. Methods: Questionnaire to all Aberdeen, United Kingdom, Medical School entrants in 1996, and five annual follow-ups (four undergraduate, one postgraduate). Results: Response rates: year 1, 100%; year 2, 78%; year 3, 70%; year 4, 64%; year 5, 65%; pre-registration house officer (PRHO), 60%. Throughout the study, females were more positive about a career in general practice. General practice was the first choice for 13% of students in year 1; year 2, 9%; year 3, 22%; year 4, 24%; year 5, 27%; PRHO, 29%. Those choosing general practice were more likely than those choosing other specialties to be female, have their family home in Scotland, rate their academic abilities lower and their non-academic abilities as average, and have decided on their future career earlier. Reasons for general practice included: working in and being part of a community; continuity of patient contact; variety of illnesses and people encountered; undergraduate teaching experiences; dislike of or disillusionment with hospital medicine; and an increasing awareness of part-time opportunities.Conclusion: As medical undergraduates progressed through the curriculum and became PRHOs, general practice became more popular as a career choice, particularly with females. This may be partly explained by the increased exposure to general practitioners and patients in the new community-based teaching programme and the increasing awareness of lifestyle advantages with the particular benefits of more regular hours and working part time.

The Brand Positivity Effect: When Evaluation Confers Preference

One of the most common forms of consumer judgment is singular evaluation: the evaluation or appraisal of singular brands. Three experiments show that singular evaluation is often characterized by a brand positivity effect—brands tend to be evaluated more positively than warranted when judged in isolation. In addition to demonstrating how the brand positivity effect may bias consumer judgments of and choice intention regarding products in very different categories, we demonstrate how the brand positivity effect influences real consumer choice in a mall intercept study. Finally, we provide evidence that selective processing of brand information underlies the brand positivity effect.

The impact of cognitive and/or affective processing styles on consumer response to advertising appeals

As advertisers increasingly seek greater communication effectiveness and new forms of media emerge, psychological differences amongst individuals are becoming essential criteria in the design of advertising appeals. The present study considers whether individuals differ in their propensity to rely on affective, cognitive or both systems to process information. This research suggests that persuasive appeals tend to be more effective when the nature of the appeal matches, rather than mismatches, the individual personality-type preferences for processing information. Results show that informational and informational-emotional advertising appeals, which match consumer's processing style (thinking and thinking-feeling processors, respectively), can generate more positive attitudes toward the brand, purchase intention (PI) and brand choice.

Determinants of hotel guests’ satisfaction and repeat patronage in the Hong Kong hotel industry

This study examined the relative importance of hotel factors in relation to travelers’ overall satisfaction levels with their hotel stays in Hong Kong and the likelihood of returning to the same hotels in their subsequent trips. Using a factor analysis technique, the study identified seven hotel factors that were likely to influence customers’ choice intentions: ‘Staff Service Quality’, ‘Room Qualities’, ‘General Amenities’, ‘Business Services’, ‘Value’, ‘Security’ and ‘IDD Facilities’. Multiple regression analysis technique was then applied to examine the relative importance of each of these hotel factors in determining travelers’ overall satisfaction levels and their likelihood of returning to the same hotels. In order of importance, ‘Staff Service Quality’, ‘Room Qualities’ and ‘Value’ were the three most influential factors in determining travelers’ overall satisfaction levels and their likelihood of returning to the same hotels.

The effects of payback and loan repayment programs on medical student career plans.

Many states have considered implementing payback programs on state-subsidized medical education to increase the rate of graduates returning to those states to practice. An alternative is for states to offer and expand loan repayment programs to entice medical school graduates from rural states to return to their home states. The goal of this study is to determine and contrast the impact these two types of programs might have on medical school choice and students' intentions to return to their home states. Two hundred twenty-nine medical students were surveyed (response rate 80 percent). The questionnaire collected background information on the students and addressed the possible impact of payback and loan repayment policy proposals on student plans. Forty-seven percent of students reported that they would attend a different medical school if a required payback program were in place. Students who were more competitive at the time of admission to medical school were significantly more likely to say they would attend another medical school than were less competitive students. In contrast, 48 percent of students reported that they would be more likely to return to their home states if expanded loan repayment programs were available for service in areas of need. The findings suggest that payback programs may dissuade more competitive students from entering medical schools with such requirements, compromising the pool of students most likely to return to rural areas. Conversely, medical students appear willing to consider loan repayment programs upon completion of their training.

The role of contextual supports and barriers in the choice of math/science educational options: A test of social cognitive hypotheses.

Social cognitive career theory proposes that contextual supports and barriers play key roles in the career choice process, yet little research has examined hypotheses involving these variables. Participants (111 1 college students) completed measures of math/science-related course self-efficacy, coping efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, goals, and perceived contextual supports and barriers. Findings indicate that self-efficacy and outcome expectations were jointly predictive of interests and choice intentions. Support and barrier percepts produced only weak direct relations to choice, though barrier percepts were found to moderate interest-choice relations. A model portraying barriers and supports as linked to choice indirectly (via their impact on self-efficacy) produced better fit to the data than did a model specifying barriers and supports as directly linked to choice. Implications for future research and counseling are discussed.

Self-employment intentions among Russian students

The present research investigated employment status choice intentions, defined as the decision to enter an occupation as a waged or salaried individual as opposed to a self-employed one. Hypotheses based on tracking models and the theory of planned behaviour were tested on a sample of 512 Russian students from three different universities in St. Petersburg. The results showed that the theory of planned behaviour, not tracking models or demographics, determined employment status choice intentions.

A STUDY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL CAREER CHOICES AMONG MBAS - THE EXTENDED BIRD MODEL

In this article an extended version of the Bird model is investigated in a prospective approach. The model is tested on a cohort of 62 final semester MBAs in the UK. Boyd and Vozikis' (1994) theoretical propositions represent the base model. Antecedents of the extended model are empirically tested using exogenous variables such as mastery experience, vicarious experience and social influences against entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The present study supports the proposition that social influence affects entrepreneurial self-efficacy and that self-efficacy goal setting and goal commitment affect entrepreneurial career choice intentions.

Social cognitive expectations and racial identity attitudes in predicting the math choice intentions of Black college students.

This study extended social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) and racial identity theory (J. E. Helms, 1990) to the math-related interests and academic choice intentions of Black college students. Participants were 164 Black 1st-year undergraduates who completed measures of racial identity attitudes and math-related indexes of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, perceived sources of efficacy information, interests, and academic choice intentions. A social cognitive path model of students' math-related interests and choice intentions offered good overall fit to the data. Racial identity attitudes generally yielded small relations to the social cognitive variables and the outcome criteria. Self-efficacy and outcome expectations predicted interests, and interests predicted choice intentions, across racial identity attitude levels. Implications for practice and for further research on Black students' academic and career development patterns are considered.

Service Quality Gap in China's Hotel Industry: a Study of Tourist Perceptions and Expectations

The purpose of the study was to assess international tourists'perceptions and expectations of service quality in China's hotel industry. A questionnaire was used and a systematic sampling was applied to survey a sample of 270 tourists. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were employed. The study found 22 significant service gaps in China's hotel in dustry. It explored the six underlying dimensions of perceived service quality and identified that "staff skill and performance" and "extra amenities provided" were the determinants of tourists' choice intention.