HIGH ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD, COGNITIVE ATTITUDE FORMATION 87The TORA has been further extended to the TPB.^47 Fishbein and Ajzen felt this extension
was necessary to be able to deal with behaviours over which people have incomplete
volitional control. Indeed, behavioural intention can result in actual behaviour only if the
consumers themselves can decide to perform or not perform the behaviour. For many
consumer behaviours this prerequisite does not pose a problem (e.g. choosing between Coke
Vanilla or Coke Lemon), but often behaviour also depends on non-motivational factors,
such as resources (time, money, skills, infrastructure, etc.). For example, a consumer may be
willing to go to work by means of public transport, but when he or she lives in a remote
village in which hardly any public transport facilities are available, this may be difficult to do.
Or, a consumer and his or her significant others may hold very favourable attitudes towards
buying a Lamborghini, but when this consumer lacks the money, a cheaper car will be bought
in the end (so, in fact, the extension resembles the ‘ability’ and ‘opportunity’ factors of MAO).
That behavioural control as perceived by the consumer is more predictive of behaviour than
actual behavioural control is very important. Perceived behavioural control (PBC) can be
defined as ‘the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behaviour and it is assumed to
reflect past experience as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles’.^48 Two individuals
enrolling for a foreign-language course may have equally strong intentions to learn the
foreign language, but if one feels more confident than the other that he or she can master it,
he or she is more likely to persevere than the one who feels less confident. Therefore, not
actual control but perceived behavioural control is added to TORA to build the TPB.
Perceived behavioural control is computed by multiplying control beliefs by perceived power
of the particular control belief to pose the behaviour, and the resulting products are summed
across the salient control beliefs. For example, for jogging, salient control beliefs appeared to
be ‘being in poor physical shape’ and ‘living in an area with good jogging weather’. Figure 3.4
presents the TPB model graphically.responses to the behaviour. The subjective norm stands for perceived social pressure by significant others or differ-
ent reference groups to perform or not to perform a certain behaviour. A reference group is a group that serves as
a comparison point and the opinion of which is perceived as important for the individual. Perceived behavioural
control over performing the behaviour is a person’s perception about whether different aspects of the behaviour are
in his or her control or are easy or difficult. It is related to the perceived ability and the external source constraints
and facilitators of the behaviour.^41
Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence of the role of affective reactions in consumer decision-making,
conceptual models and empirical research on the adoption (intention) of innovations or (new) behaviour have
largely ignored the role of emotions.^42 Perugini and Bagozzi argue that ‘although there is little question that the TPB
offers a parsimonious account of purposive behaviour, its sufficiency can be questioned’.^43 Bagozzi states that the
TPB has seemingly seduced researchers into overlooking the fallacy of simplicity.^44 Therefore, various authors
suggest extending the TPB with other factors. One of the most often suggested improvements is extending the TPB
with measures of emotional responses to the product or the issue for which the intention to use is predicted.
According to Wood and Moreau, the affective influence is often stronger and more far-reaching than previously
considered and the addition of emotional responses benefits traditional models of diffusion.^45
In a sample of 1202 Belgians the determining factors of the usage intention of an electric car and the differences
between early and late usage intention segments are investigated.^46 The TPB framework is extended with emotional
reactions towards the electric car and car-driving in general. Emotions and the attitude towards the electric car
appear to be the strongest determinants of usage intention, followed by the subjective norm. Reflective emotions
towards car-driving and perceived behavioural control factors also play a significant role. Differences in the relative
importance of the determinants of usage intention between sub-groups based on environmental concern and
behaviour and social values were also studied. In general, people in segments that are more inclined to use
the electric car are less driven by emotions towards the electric car and more by reflective emotions towards
car-driving, and take more perceived behavioural concerns into account.M03_PELS3221_05_SE_C03.indd 87 6/5/13 3:03 PM