SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED SUBJECTIVE NORMS AND SUBJECTIVE NORM-BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY

• Published in: Social behavior and personality Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 31 - 40
• Main Authors: Sapp, Stephen G., Harrod, Wendy J., Zhao, Lijun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: P.O.Box 1539, Palmerston North 4440, New Zealand Scientific Journal Publishers 01.01.1994
• Subjects: Attitude-Behaviour relationships; Factors; Group Dynamics; Group Norms; Norms; Subjective judgments
• ISSN: 0301-2212
• DOI: 10.2224/sbp.1994.22.1.31

We found support for the hypothesis that, under conditions of ill-formed intentions, subjective norms measured after group interaction can affect behavior directly. Perceived subjective norms converged within groups for subjects in a discussion condition, and these "normalized" subjective norms affected behavior directly. Based upon previous research, we expected that attitudes and subjective norms can influence behavior directly because ill-formed intentions are inconsistent with behavior. Instead, we found that attitudes and subjective norms affected behavior directly for discussion subjects even when ill-formed intentions were, consistent with behavior. The findings indicate that, under conditions of ill-formed intentions, the manner of attitudes and subjective norm formation may be more crucial for predicting behavior than the strength of the intention-behavior relationship.