The Moderating Effect of Behavior Type on the Subjective Norm-Behavior Relationship

Abstract

Three experiments were focused on the relationship between subjective norms and behavior. In Experiment 1, American college students were presented with an attitudinally or normatively controlled behavior and were instructed to suppose that the person most affected by the behavior approved or disapproved of the student's performing that behavior. This manipulation had a greater effect on intentions to perform the normatively controlled behavior than on intentions to perform the attitudinally controlled behavior. Experiments 2 and 3 were attempts to replicate the interaction, using a manipulation of the subjective norm rather than a manipulation of the normative proscriptions of a specific other. The findings indicate that the effect depends, to some extent, on the cognitive accessibility of behavior-specific important others.