chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES

DEVELOPMENT

This chapter covers the background for the development of the proposed

framework. The literature review presented in Chapters 2 and 3 has set the scene for the

model and hypotheses development. Some theoretical view points will be reiterated in

the present chapter to provide a more coherent flow of discussion. Based on the literature

review, an integrative model of exercise behaviour is established. This is followed by the

hypotheses that are formulated in line with the research objectives of the current study.

4.1 Introduction

Theory plays a crucial role in producing any solid empirical research outcome

regardless of the discipline, be it economic, sociology, psychology and marketing. In the

study of HIV prevention, Fishbein (2000) demonstrates the importance of established

theory-based approaches and principles in building successful health interventions.

Specifically, Biddle and Nigg (2000, p. 290) argue that an important starting point for

the understanding and promotion of health-related exercise and physical activity (PA) is

the study of its theory. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, theory refers to

a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to

explain phenomena (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theory). In deductive

analysis, hypotheses are established based on the existing theories and research in the

literature before being tested with empirical outcome (Zikmund 2003). The outcomes

from the empirical analysis are then used to enrich and/or modify the theory in inductive

research (Cooper and Schindler 2003). This simply means that theory and empirical

research are interrelated whereby theory guides empirical analysis, and consequently,

empirical data further enhances theory. Over time, the interactions between theory and

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empirical analysis contribute to better understanding of the phenomenon in question

(Sekaran 2000).

According to Biddle and Nigg (2000), theoretical models allow for the study of

complex networks of variables, clear tests of hypotheses, and possible explanatory

mechanisms for exercise behaviour (p. 292). Therefore, a sound theoretical foundation

is needed in integrating diverse research findings and to provide a solid framework for

the prediction and explanation of a given behaviour. Although the nature of each

behaviour under study may be different, Fishbein (2000) argues that there is only limited

number of theoretical variables that could possibly influence a particular behaviour. A

clear understanding of these variables and how they predict the target behaviour that

based on established behavioural principles can enhance the effectiveness of behavioural

change programme (Ajzen 1991). The present study seeks to meet this need in the

context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen 1991) and Five-Factor Model

(FFM) of Personality (Tupes and Christal 1961; Norman 1963).

A variety of consumer behaviour theories derived from the social sciences - psychology,

sociology, social psychology or economics - have been put forward over the years

(Kalafatis et al. 1999). Among these disciplines, a social psychology model frequently

used to explain a variety of behaviour is the TPB, a well-researched model that has been

shown to predict behaviour across a variety of settings including exercise domain. As a

general model, TPB is designed to understand and predict human behaviours (Ajzen

1991). Hence, it is reasonable to expect that TPB-based model could effectively explain

exercise behaviour. The current study attempts to contribute to the development of a

conceptual framework that integrates the five dimensions of personality into the TPB

model and to test the ability of these social cognitive and personality constructs in

predicting exercise behaviour.

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4.2 Rationale for Choosing the TPB Model

The TPB is an extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA; Fishbein and

Ajzen 1975). The TPB extended the TRA by the addition of perceived behavioural

control (PBC) because the TRA has difficulty explaining behaviours over which one

does not have volitional control. According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), the TRA is

suitable for analysing rational and systematic behaviours over which the individual has

control. However, there are many types of behaviour which are not under ones complete

volitional control. For instance, an individual may not be able to participate in exercise

activities due to some barriers and obstacles such as time pressures, poor weather, and

security concern (Norman, Conner and Bell 2000). Among these constraints, Mohd

Nordin, Shamsuddin, Jamaludin, Zulkafli (2003) found time factor to be the main

problem for not exercising among sedentary women. Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw

(1988, p. 326) believe that actions that are at least in part determined by factors beyond

individuals volitional control fall outside the boundary conditions established for the

model. This shortcoming has been overcome by incorporating PBC into the TPB model

(Ajzen 1991).

Numerous research studies provide empirical evidence that the TPB is a more superior

model compared with the theory of reasoned action (TRA). For instance, in a study of

food choice behaviour (Armitage and Conner 1999a) and gift giving behaviour

(Netemeyer, Andrews and Durvasula 1993), TPB performed better than did TRA. The

research findings by Ajzen and Driver (1992a) in leisure context also support the

superiority of the TPB over the TRA model. In the exercise domain, many researchers

(e.g., Mummery, Spence and Hudec 2000; Norman, Conner and Bell 2000; Sheeran,

Trafimow and Armitage 2003; Symons Downs et al. 2006) found PBC to be a useful

addition and they highlight the importance of the PBC construct in predicting exercise

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intention and behaviour. In addition, several meta-analyses (see Ajzen 1991; Godin and

Kok 1996; Hausenblas, Carron and Mack 1997; Conner and Armitage 1998; Armitage

and Conner 2001) also support the inclusion of PBC as an additional predictor within the

TPB framework. For instance, in a review of 185 studies published up to the end of 1997,

Armitage and Conner (2001) found that the TPB accounted for 39% and 27% of the

variance in intention and behaviour, respectively.

There exist many other health-related models such as Transtheoretical Model, Health

Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour, and Self-

Determination Theory that have been reviewed in the previous chapter. However,

Ajzens (1991) TPB forms the theoretical framework of this study due to a number a

reasons. Firstly, many researchers agree that TPB represents the most compelling and

well-established model for the prediction of intentional behaviour (Biddle and Nigg,

2000; Courneya and Bobick 2000; Armitage and Christian 2003; Rivis and Sheeran

2003). For instance, in their meta-analysis, Rivis and Sheeran (2003) advocate that the

TPB is the most influential theory for the prediction of social and health behaviour. More

specifically, in the exercise domain, Rhodes, Jones and Courneya (2002) point out that

the TPB is the most validated and prominent social cognitive theories for understanding

and explaining exercise behaviour. Besides, in an extensive review of the theories of

exercise behaviour, Biddle and Nigg (2000) conclude that TPB is one of the most

comprehensive and validated theory for explaining and predicting exercise behaviour.

Second, one of the main indicators of the validity of a theory is that it needs to be

demonstrated that the particular theory works under a variety of context (Bamberg,

Ajzen and Schmidt 2003). Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw (1988, p.338) conclude in

their meta-analysis that the TPB model has strong predictive utility, even when utilized

to investigate situations and activities that do not fall within the boundary conditions

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originally specified for the model. In line with Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaws

(1988) argument, it is evident that this theory has received good empirical supports in

predicting a wide range of behaviours (for other meta-analyses, see Godin and Kok 1996;

Armitage and Conner 2001). Its strength in terms of broad applicability was also found

spanning across the areas of social psychology, sports science, nursing, health medicine,

information technology, etc (Notani 1998; Armitage and Conner 1999b). For instance,

Godin and Koks (1996) review of the Ajzens TPB in the health domain indicates that

the theory performs very well for the explanation of both intention (with average R

of .41) and behaviour (with average R of .34). More specifically, the TPB model has

been used successfully to examine behaviour and decisions closely related to this study,

i.e., exercise behaviour. Further, in their meta-analysis reviews of the TPB and exercise

literature, Hausenblas, Carron, and Mack (1997) and Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2005)

support the utility of the TPB for understanding and predicting exercise behaviour.

Third, the TPB is a parsimonious model (Abraham and Sheeran 2003) and hence

relatively small number of variables is sufficient to ensure accurate prediction of

behaviour. This theory is deemed appropriate as it covers major factors that are

important in the present study such as attitude, normative influences, perception of

control over exercising, and behavioural intention. Next, a theoretical model that can

explain multidimensional determinants of exercise behaviour is needed. In this instance,

the TPB allows the investigation of personal, social and psychological influence on

individual exercise behaviour more comprehensively (Godin and Kok 1996;

Hausenblaus, Carron and Mack 1997). Many theories and models have been used to

examine various factors that affect individual exercise behaviour over the years (Symons

Downs and Hausenblas 2003). While all of these models have shown some utility in

understanding exercise behaviour, Biddle and Nigg (2000) argue that the TPB is still the

most comprehensive and validated theories to be used for examining exercise behaviour.

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Fourth, the TPB provides a systematic guidelines and clearly defined

structure/framework that could guide researchers on how to measure social cognitive

constructs specified by the model in achieving greater predictive accuracy (Ajzen and

Fishbein 1980). For example, Ajzen (1991) highlights the importance of adhering to the

boundary condition of correspondence within the TPB to ensure that measures of TPB

constructs are compatible (i.e., all refer to the same action, target, context, and time). The

guidelines on TPB questionnaire construction as well as sample questionnaires are easily

accessible online. Lastly, the model is useful for the explanation and prediction of

consumer behaviour utilising behavioural intentions as a mediator (Ryan and Bonfield

1975).

Indeed, there is no general consensus among researchers exists regarding which is the

best theoretical framework to study exercise behaviour (Wood 2008). Since the TPB

contains social cognitive factors that are common to most of the other behavioural

theories and models, it is deemed to be a promising framework basis from which a more

integrative model of exercise behaviour may be developed. Abraham and Sheeran (2003,

p. 265) argue that as a model of the cognitive antecedents of behaviour, the TPB is

parsimonious, empirically supported and can be operationalised easily, according to

available guidelines. This quotation summarises the above rationales for using the TPB

as a framework for the present study.

4.3 The Addition of Personality into TPB Model

As stated by Ajzen's (1991, p. 199): ... the theory of planned behaviour is, in

principle, open to the inclusion of additional predictors if it can be shown that they

capture a significant proportion of the variance in intention or behaviour after the

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theory's current variables have been taken into account. This quotation suggests that the

original TPB should be viewed as a flexible model that could be added with more

variables if one wishes to increase the predictive validity of the theory and generalise it

to other research context. In their meta-analysis, Rivis and Sheeran (2003) cast doubts

about the sufficiency of the TPB constructs in predicting intentions and behaviour. They

suggest that additional variables should be taken into consideration in improving the

predictive ability of the model. Similarly, Armitage and Conner (2001) and Perugini and

Bagozzi (2001) also question about the sufficiency of TPB and suggest that additional

variables should be included to improve the model.

Empirical reviews have supported the applicability of the TPB in a wide variety of

context (see Armitage and Conner 2001 for meta-analysis). In all these studies, the

researchers have introduced a modified version of the TPB model in their study and

yielded results that are different from those of the original TPB model. Most researchers

have modified their model by adding variables in the TPB (see Conner and Armitage

1998). For instance, researchers try to improve the predictive ability of TPB by adding

variables such as moral norms (e.g., Ajzen and Driver 1992b); attitudinal ambivalence

(e.g., Conner et al. 2003); social support (e.g., Courneya and McAuley 1995; Courneya

et al. 2001; Rhodes, Jones and Courneya 2002); and past behaviour (e.g., Bamberg,

Ajzen and Schmidt 2003; Cunningham and Kwon 2003; Rhodes and Courneya 2003c;

Chuchinprakarn 2005) with varying success (see Conner and Armitage 1998). However,

most of these predictors are derived in an intuitive and arbitrary manner (Bakker et al.

2006) while a more integrative model is needed. Ajzen (2001) comments that the

improvement of the predictive ability of TPB for most studies conducted thus far is

relatively small and hence could not generalise it to other research context.

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Many researchers have examined whether the TPB incorporates all the major predictors

of intention and behaviour. One of the limitations of TRA/TPB model is that factors such

as personality and demographics variables are not being emphasised (Brown 1999). In

agreement with this, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) comment that external

variables like demographic and personality are often neglected in the investigation of

exercise behaviour. The link between personality and health-related outcomes has long

been an important aspect of personality research (Bogg et al. 2007). Courneya and

Hellsten (1998) observe that initial works on the relationship between personality and

exercise behaviour tend to focus on personality as an outcome of exercise and fitness;

later studies investigate personality factors as predictors of exercise behaviour.

More recently, Hagger et al. (2007) observe that some researchers modify the TPB

model with the inclusion of personality in an attempt to form a more comprehensive

model of intentional behaviour. The research findings of Courneya and Hellsten (1998)

are encouraging and they urge future research to test FFM of Personality in the exercise

domain. There are numerous research evidences that human behaviour is determined by

an individuals personality traits (McCrae and John 1992). The decision as to whether to

participate in exercise or not may be a matter of personality preferences (Szabo 1992).

Hence, it is likely that individuals personality traits will predict his or her own

behaviour relative to exercise participation. Other than the social cognitive constructs

contained in the TPB, the role of personality as determinant of exercise behaviour is an

important area for research. If the influence of personality on exercise behaviour can be

determined and supported, it would then provide useful insights for public policy makers

and marketers in the health-related industries for their planning and executing tasks.

While some researchers have focused on more specific personality traits such as self-

esteem (e.g., Iannos and Tiggemann 1997; Pretty et al. 2007), locus of control (e.g.,

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Furlong 1994; Iannos and Tiggemann 1997), and self-motivation (e.g., Goldberg 1983;

Zamparo 1998; Annesi 2005) in examining the antecedents and consequences of exercise

behaviour, there have been very few efforts to examine more comprehensive dimensions

of personality. Also, the researcher observes in the literature that very few studies have

linked personality factors to other social cognitive models such as Health Belief Model,

Social Learning Theory, and the TPB in examining various health-related behaviours.

One such exception is Changs (2003) study to examine the mediating role of personality

(based on FFM) in the link between fat-reducing dietary behaviour and psychosocial

factors which they derived from the Health Belief Model, TPB and Social Cognitive

Theory. While most past research has focused on social cognition models in examining

the determinant of exercise behaviour; the inclusion of personality factors as determinant

of exercise participation would certainly add theoretical value to the research.

4.4 The Proposed Integrative Model of Exercise Behaviour

The TPB model is a flexible model that opens to the inclusion of additional

variables with the aim to increase the proportion of the variance in intention or behaviour

and generalise it to other research context. Although there is a general support for the

TPB, several researchers (e.g., Armitage and Conner 2001; Perugini and Bagozzi 2001;

Rivis and Sheeran 2003) are concerned about the sufficiency of the TPB and suggest

adding predictors to improve the amount of explained variance. Demographic and

personality factors are postulated as background variable in the TPB or TRA (Ajzen and

Fishbein 1980; Ajzen 1991). Ajzen and Fishbein (2004) note that such background

variables can provide further insights into the understanding of a given target behaviour.

It is evident in the literature that the social cognitive constructs in the TPB have been

extensively studied in the exercise domain.

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The majority of exercise studies focus on only the social cognitive constructs but

neglected personality influences on exercise behaviour. Most of the research regarding

personality and the TPB in the exercise domain has been conducted independently

(Courneya, Bobick and Schinke 1999), instead of looking into the combine effects of

personality and social cognitive influence on exercise behaviour. Hence, the present

study aims to develop a conceptual framework that integrates personality factors (derived

from the FFM of Personality; Tupes and Christal 1961; Norman 1963) into a modified

TPB model and to examine the relationships among social cognitive, personality factors

and exercise behaviour as well as testing for the efficacy of the proposed integrative

framework in predicting exercise behaviour.

The TPB postulates personality as background information and the social cognitive

constructs contained in the TPB will mediate the relationship between personality

variables and actual behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980; Ajzen 1991). As postulated by

the original TPB model, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) and Rhodes and

Courneya (2003a) examine the mediating role of the three social cognitive constructs

(i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and PBC) between personality and exercise behaviour.

Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) report that the relationship between personality

and exercise behaviour was partially mediated by the social cognitive constructs using

hierarchical regression analysis. Whereas the latter study (i.e., Rhodes and Courneya

2003a) using structural equation modelling (SEM) results in poor model fit.

The researcher would like to reiterate several research issues regarding the

abovementioned exercise studies. First, the studies conducted by Courneya, Bobick and

Schinke (1999) and Rhodes and Courneya (2003a) focus merely on three personality

factors (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness) while agreeableness and

openness to experience factors are neglected. Second, their studies adopt undergraduate

101

students as sample with relatively small sample size. Third, the possible mediating role

of behavioural intention that links personality to behaviour was neglected. Overall, there

are still limited research attempt to answer whether the relationships between social

cognitive constructs, personality factors and exercise behaviour are direct or possibly

indirect through exercise intention. This research gap will be addressed in the present

study.

The social cognitive predictors of TPB (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and PBC) are

originally and traditionally measured as aggregated single concepts (Ajzen 1991). Later,

Ajzen (2002b) suggests that each social cognitive constructs should comprise of two

specific components (for example, attitude should consist of affective attitude and

instrumental attitude components) and acknowledges the conceptual distinction between

these components. Several recent empirical studies (i.e., Rhodes and Courneya 2003b;

Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005; Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson 2006) support the

discriminant validity of these components. As mentioned in the earlier chapter, the

present study attempts to identify the specific social cognitive components that can

predict exercise behaviour. Therefore, a disaggregated structure of multiple components

(based on Rhodes and Blanchards (2006) recommendation) is deemed to be more

appropriate for the present study.

Courneya and Hellstens (1998) study on examining the relationship between personality

and exercise behaviour, motives, barriers and preferences yields good results and they

urge future research to test FFM of Personality in the exercise domain. With the growing

and relatively consistent body of literature supporting the use of FFM, it seems logical to

include personality construct within the TPB in examining exercise behaviour. However,

personality is only one component of a variety of environmental and lifestyle variables

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that affect health behaviour (Bogg et al. 2007). Social cognitive constructs as depicted in

the TPB model also plays a crucial role in behavioural study.

The present study attempts to integrate the FFM with an extended TPB model including

concepts of affective and instrumental attitude, injunctive and descriptive norm,

perceived control and perceived self-efficacy in examining exercise behaviour (See

Figure 4.1). The five personality factors derived from the FFM model are known as:

Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness to experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and

Conscientiousness (C). The personality and social cognitions of individual might

simultaneously affect their exercise intention and, consequently, influence their exercise

behaviour. This integrative approach in examining various attitudinal, cognitive, social

and personal constructs as well as demographic variables that may influence exercise

behaviour is expected to contribute significantly to the research community.

Figure 4.1: The Proposed Integrative Research Framework

Note: This framework is adapted from various sources (i.e., Ajzen 1991; Rhodes and

Courneya 2003a; Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005)

Exercise

Intention

Exercise

Behaviour

TPB Model

Attitude Components

Instrumental Attitude

Affective Attitude

Subjective Norm Components

Injunctive Norm

Descriptive Norm

Perceived Behavioural Control

Perceived Self-efficacy

Perceived Control

FFM Model

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Neuroticism

Openness to Experience

Mediator

Dependent

Variable

Independent Variables

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4.5 Comparison of Original TPB and the Proposed Integrative Model

The original derivation of the TPB differs in several major aspects from the

present model. First, it is recognised that the original TPB model postulated interactions

effects among the three social cognitive constructs (Ajzen 1991) as depicted in Figure

3.6 (see page 46). This would simply mean that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived

behavioural control predict intention to perform a given behaviour also influence one

another. For example, if exercise behaviour is thought to yield health outcomes, people

may develop favourable attitude toward exercising, and they may also infer that those

who are important to them would want them to exercise. Also, people who believe they

have the necessary resources and skills to participate in exercising may ultimately form

positive attitude toward exercising (Ajzen and Fishbein 2004). However, the main

objective of this study is not to examine the interrelationship among these three

predictors, hence, how these three variables interact with each other are not the focus of

the present study. Second, the present study extends the TPB model by adding the five

personality dimensions based on considerable empirical findings. The justifications for

the inclusion of personality variables have been discussed earlier in this chapter.

Thirdly, the original TPB model includes the antecedents (i.e., behavioural, normative

and control beliefs) of each social cognitive constructs. However, the present model does

not focus on examining the determinants of attitudes, subjective norm and PBC. Thus,

like in other exercise / physical activity studies (e.g., Brickell, Chatzisarantis and Pretty

2006; De Bruijn et al. 2006; Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson 2006; Rhodes, Macdonald

and McKay 2006; Everson, Daley and Ussher 2007; Hagger et al. 2007), the salient

beliefs for the social cognitive constructs are not included in the present study. In fact,

most TPB studies are conducted without elicitation studies (Symons Downs and

Hausenblas 2005). Further, elicitation studies are not necessary for predicting exercise

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intention and behaviour (Symons Downs and Hausenblas 2005). Ajzen and Fishbein

(1980, p. 98) state that from a practical point of view, it is not always necessary to

measure all of these variables to answer certain questions. Ajzen and Fishbein (1980)

further explain that the direct measure of intention may be sufficient if the researcher

aims to predict behaviour. If the objective is to predict intention, then the direct measures

of attitude and subjective norm are deemed appropriate. However, if one aims to

understand intention and behaviour, it is necessary to examine the salient beliefs and

their association with the direct measures of social cognitive constructs.

The social cognitive constructs (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and PBC) are traditionally

measured as aggregated single concepts (Ajzen 1991). For instance, although Ajzen

(2002b) suggests that each social cognitive construct consists of two specific components

and acknowledges the conceptual distinction between these components, he still

combines them to form a singular attitude construct. It has been a common practice to

aggregate these social cognitive components to form higher order attitude, subjective

norm and PBC constructs (Armitage and Conner 2001; Ajzen 2002b; Hagger,

Chatzisarantis and Biddle 2002) as proposed by Ajzen (2002a). However, Rhodes,

Blanchard and Matheson (2006) argue that this higher order structure may overlook the

variation in the predictive ability of the differentiated components of attitude, subjective

norm, and PBC, and hence defeat the purpose of differentiating them in the first place.

In addition, the findings of Rhodes and Blanchards (2006) study do not support the

aggregation of TPB components to form general scale of attitude and subjective norm. In

an attempt to compare the efficacy of the higher order conceptualisation with a

disaggregated multidimensional TPB model using SEM technique, Rhodes and

Blanchards (2006) work supported the disaggregated multidimensional measure over

higher order structure. Their study further demonstrates that the disaggregated

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multidimensional model possesses better psychometric quality when compared with the

aggregation of direct social cognitive component measures.

The question to which conceptualisation or measurement (i.e., disaggregated multi-

component measure or higher order structure) is better depends on the nature of the

hypotheses, research questions and objectives of the researcher (Ajzen 2002a). The

present study attempts to identify the specific social cognitive components that account

for changes in the exercise behaviour. Hence, it is appropriate for the present study to

model the social cognitive constructs as disaggregated structure of multiple components

based on Rhodes and Blanchards (2006) recommendation. The followings are other

empirical findings that support the disaggregated multi-component structure in exercise

domain:

When comparing two populations (i.e., undergraduate students and cancer survivors),

Rhodes and Courneya (2003b) found that all three social cognitive constructs have

better significant fit when modelled as separate components. This supports the

discriminant validity of those constructs and hence suggesting measurement

distinctiveness.

The research outcome of Hagger and Chatzisarantiss (2005) study also supports the

discriminant validity of the differentiated multi-components measure.

Using SEM in their study, Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson (2006) found that all

social cognitive constructs indicated significantly better fit when modelled as

separate components. Further, average additional explained variance was found

ranging from 11% to 36% when the constructs are modelled as disaggregated multi-

components structure, supporting superior measurement when social cognitive

constructs are modelled as disaggregated multi-component measure.

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4.6 Hypotheses Development

Each of the links hypothesised in the present model is supported with empirical

and theoretical evidences. There are a total of five major hypotheses. The first hypothesis

addresses the effects of social cognitive and personality factors on exercise intention.

Hypothesis 2 looks at the direct effect of exercise intention on exercise behaviour (the

ultimate dependent variable). The influence of social cognitive and personality factors on

exercise behaviour will be tested in Hypothesis 3. Next, Hypothesis 4 examines the

mediating effects of exercise intention between social cognitive constructs, personality

factors, and exercise behaviour. Lastly, Hypothesis 5 is related to the group membership

prediction between high active exercisers and low active exercisers.

4.6.1 The Effects of Social Cognitive and Personality Factors on Exercise Intention

This section delineates the effects of the social cognitive and personality factors

on exercise intention (the mediating variable for the study). Each hypothesis will be

supported with empirical evidences and/or solid theoretical arguments.

(a) The Links between Social Cognitive Constructs and Exercise Intention

Theoretically, the three social cognitive constructs (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and

PBC) of TPB are very distinct concepts (Ajzen 1991). Numerous social and behavioural

studies have been conducted to examine their conceptual differences by showing that

these different constructs stand in predictable relations to intention and behaviour

(Armitage and Conner 2001). Based on the works of Rhodes and Blanchard (2006), the

present study follows the disaggregated multi-components structure of social cognitive

constructs. Therefore, each social cognitive construct consists of two specific sub-

components. The links between attitude components and exercise intention will first be

discussed. This is followed by discussing the relationships between subjective norm

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components and exercise intention, and lastly the effects of PBC components on exercise

intention.

i. Attitude components and its effects on exercise intention

Attitude has long been considered as a major factor influencing individual decision-

making (Fishbein and Ajzen 1972). Attitude has been regarded as a core construct in the

TPB studies in that the theory will be rejected if attitude does not predict intention

(Ajzen 1991). Researchers relying on the TPB must be clear about the conceptualisation

of attitude construct and be able to differentiate between general attitude (i.e., attitude

toward physical objects; racial, ethnic, or other groups; institutions; policies; events; or

other general targets) and attitudes toward performing a target behaviour (Ajzen and

Fishbein 2004). This study evaluates the attitude toward exercise behaviour as delineated

in the model.

Ajzen (1991) develops TPB as an extension of the TRA (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975). Both

theories hold that intentions to perform a particular behaviour can be predicted from

attitudes, subjective norm and PBC with respect to the behaviour (Ajzen 1991).

Generally, attitudes refer to the extent to which one views a given behaviour as

favourable or unfavourable (Doll and Ajzen 1992). Specifically, attitude was

conceptualised in this study as an individuals overall affective and instrumental

evaluations, favourable or unfavourable, towards engaging in exercise activities during

leisure time. An individuals attitude towards performing a particular behaviour is likely

to be positive if that person perceives that there are positive outcomes resulting from the

behaviour. Using a deductive logic, favourable attitude is likely to increase a persons

intention to participate in a given behaviour.

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Table 4.1 Empirical Supports for the Links between Attitude (as a Global

Construct) and Intention

Reference Context Results Correlation

r-value Sig.

Everson, Daley &

Ussher (2007)

Physical

activity

INT was significantly explained by

attitude ( =.31)

r=.46 p

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The relationship between attitude (as a global construct) and behavioural intention has

received substantial empirical support (see Table 4.1). A review of literature showed that

attitude has been consistently correlated positively with intention and a good predictor of

intention. A large number of studies have shown positive correlation between attitude

and behavioural intention including studies related to online purchase behaviour (e.g.,

Shim et al. 2001; Pavlou and Fygneson 2006), dietary behaviour (e.g., Povey et al. 2000;

Hagger et al. 2007), green behaviour (e.g., Terry, Hogg and White 1999), and hunting

behaviour (e.g., Hrubes, Ajzen and Daigle 2001).

Specifically, in the exercise domain, Hausenblas, Carron and Mack (1997) report a mean

correlation of .52 between attitude and intention in their meta-analysis of 30 studies on

exercise behaviour. Most studies in the physical activity and / or exercise domain have

reported strong relationships between the attitude construct and behavioural intention

(e.g., Courneya, Bobick and Schinke 1999; Norman, Conner and Bell 2000; Rhodes,

Jones and Courneya 2002; Symons Downs and Hausenblas 2003; Okun et al. 2003;

Saunders et al. 2004; Brickell, Chatzisarantis and Pretty 2006; Symons Downs et al.

2006; Rhodes, Macdonald and McKay 2006; Everson, Daley and Ussher 2007).

Considering the prediction of behavioural intentions, attitude has been demonstrated to

be a significant predictor of various behavioural intentions. For example, in a study of

ready meals consumption and takeaways purchase behaviour using British sample,

Mahon, Cowan and McCarthy (2006) found attitude to be the best contributor to the

prediction of intention. Conner et al. (2003) also found attitude significantly predicts

intention and emerged as the most important factor in the decision to consume dietary

supplement. Besides, numerous empirical evidences also support attitude to be the

predictor of intention in a variety of context including dietary behaviour (e.g., Hagger et

al. 2007), online purchase and information search behaviour (e.g., Shim et al. 2001;

110

Pavlou and Fygneson 2006), organic food purchase (e.g., Tarkiainen and Sundqvist

2005), e-learning adoption (e.g., Ndubisi 2004), healthy eating (e.g., Conner et al. 2003),

and genetically modified food purchase (e.g., Cook, Kerr and Moore 2002).

Specifically, it is evident in the exercise literature that exercise intention typically is

influenced by attitude toward exercise behaviour. For instance, Hagger et al. (2007)

demonstrate that attitude significantly predicts intentions in all the three types of

behaviour studied (i.e., exercise, dieting and binge drinking behaviour). Many other

studies in the exercise domain found attitude to be a significant predictor of exercise

intention and emerged as the stronger predictor compared to subjective norm and PBC

(e.g., Okun et al. 2003; Brickell, Chatzisarantis and Pretty 2006; De Bruijn et al. 2006;

Everson, Daley and Ussher 2007).

To be more specific, there are also strong evidence of positive correlation between the

two attitude components (i.e., affective and instrumental attitude) and exercise intention

(see Table 4.2). Kraft et al. (2005) support the conceptual distinction between

instrumental and affective attitude by using confirmatory factor analysis. They also

found instrumental attitude and affective attitude to be positively correlated with exercise

intention whereby affective attitude was a stronger predictor of exercise intention than

was instrumental attitude. Similarly, Rhodes and Courneya (2003a) found that affective

attitude had a significant effect (=.21, p

111

Table 4.2 Empirical Supports for the Links between Attitude Components and

Exercise Intention

Reference Correlation (AAINT) Correlation (IAINT)

r-value Sig. r-value Sig.

Rhodes, Blanchard & Matheson

(2006)

r=.59

p

112

A review of the literature showed mixed results regarding the link between subjective

norm and behavioural intention. Some empirical studies reveal a positive relationship

between subjective norm and intended behaviour. For example, Hrubes, Ajzen and

Daigle (2001) found a strong positive and significant correlation (r=.89, p

113

Despite the aforementioned significant positive correlation results between subjective

norm and behavioural intention, there are evidence of weak and insignificant relationship

between subjective norm and intention. For instance, Armitage and Conners (2001)

meta-analyses based on 185 databases reveal that subjective norm-intention correlation is

significantly weaker than the correlation between attitude and PBC with intention.

Similarly, Hausenblas, Carron and Mack (1997) report a mean correlation of only .27

between subjective norm and intention in their meta-analysis of 30 studies on exercise

behaviour. Further, in exercise domain, Courneya et al. (2001) also report weak (though

significant) association between subjective norm and intention.

There are also mixed results produced in the literature regarding the predictive ability of

subjective norm. Empirically, subjective norm had predicted intention in various

contexts, including green behaviour (e.g., Onghununtakul 2004), education decision (e.g.,

Chen and Zimitat 2006), tourism (e.g., Lam and Hsu 2006), reduced-fat milk

consumption (e.g., Kassem and Lee 2005), dietary supplement consumption (e.g.,

Conner et al. 2001, 2003), healthy eating (e.g., Conner et al. 2003), genetically modified

food purchase (e.g., Cook, Kerr and Moore 2002), hunting behaviour (e.g., Hrubes,

Ajzen and Daigle 2001), and health-protective behaviours (e.g., McCaul et al. 1993).

Specifically, several studies support that subjective norm predicts intention in the

exercise domain (e.g., Courneya, Bobick and Schinke 1999; Mummery, Spence and

Hudec 2000; Rhodes, Courneya and Jones 2004; Saunders et al. 2004).

However, there are also studies that found subjective norms to be an insignificant

contributor to the prediction of behavioural intentions. For instance, in examining

exercise behaviour among undergraduate students, Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson

(2006) found that both injunctive norm and descriptive norm did not predict exercise

intention significantly. Several other studies (e.g., Rhodes, Jones and Courneya 2002;

114

Blanchard et al. 2003; Brickell, Chatzisarantis and Pretty 2006) also found subjective

norm failed to make significant contribution to the prediction of exercise intention.

Similar findings were also found in other contexts such as healthy eating behaviour (e.g.,

Povey et al. 2000), online behaviour (e.g., Shim et al. 2001; Pavlou and Fygenson 2006),

and recycling behaviour (e.g., Terry, Hogg and White 1999).

Nevertheless, in the exercise domain, there are at least three studies that support the

predictive ability of subjective norm in determining exercise intention. For instance, a

study conducted by Symons Downs et al. (2006) showed that subjective norm is a

stronger determinant of intention than attitude, a finding contrary to most of the

published research on the TPB (e.g., Hagger, Chatzisarantis and Biddle 2002;

Hausenblas, Carron and Mack 1997). In comparing physical activity between Asian and

Caucasian children between 9 to 11 years old, Rhodes, Macdonald and McKay (2006)

found only subjective norm and PBC as significant predictors of intention, but not

attitude. Further, Everson, Daley and Ussher (2007) demonstrate that subjective norm is

at least as important as attitude in predicting physical activity intention. These empirical

evidences contradict previous studies that often found subjective norm to have a small or

no contribution in predicting intention. Hence, further research is needed to confirm

these contradicting findings.

Several TPB researchers (e.g., Hausenblas, Carron and Mack 1997; Armitage and

Conner 2001; Symons Downs and Hausenblas 2003; Saunders et al. 2004) have

explained that the weak relationship was partly due to poor measurement and future

research is warranted to examine subjective norm before conclusions can be drawn.

Furthermore, given the importance of peer influence and family support, exercise

participation is also a matter of socialisation and social support. Hence, the influence

significant others have on exercise intention is important and should not be overlooked.

115

Besides, Table 4.4 presents the correlation between injunctive norm, descriptive norm

and intentional construct taken from different behavioural context including exercise and

physical activity behaviour. Specifically, parts of these empirical studies have also

shown positive and significant correlation between subjective norm and behavioural

intentions towards participating in exercise and / or physical activities. Based on the

above theoretical and empirical justifications, it is proposed that the more one perceives

that significant others favour ones participation in exercise activities (the greater the

influence of injunctive norm) and the exercise participation typically performed by

significant others (the greater the influence of descriptive norm), the more likely one will

intend to exercise. Thus, the following hypotheses are posed:

H1 (c): Injunctive Norm will positively influence Exercise Intention

H1 (d): Descriptive Norm will positively influence Exercise Intention

Table 4.4 Empirical Supports for the Links between Subjective Norm Components

and Intention

Reference Context Correlation (IN INT) Correlation (DN INT)

r-value Sig. r-value Sig. Rhodes, Blanchard &

Matheson (2006)

Exercise r=.21

p

116

exercise activities during leisure time (Rhodes and Courneya 2003a; Hagger and

Chatzisarantis 2005). The model without PBC component is the widely used TRA; the

PBC construct was added to take account of non-volitional behaviours (Doll and Ajzen

1992). Ajzen (1991) predicts that PBC influences a persons intention to perform a given

behaviour. Using a deductive logic, an individuals behavioural intention tend to increase

when there is increase in that persons confidence level and perceptions of the amount of

control he or she has over that particular behaviour.

A good deal of evidence supports that PBC has an association with behavioural intention

and was found to improve the prediction of intention in a variety of contexts (see Table

4.5). In addition, several meta-analyses found support for strong association between

PBC and behavioural intention as listed below:

o Godin and Kok (1996) review 56 applications of the TPB in health domain and

conclude that PBC predicts behavioural intentions in 86% of the cases even after

controlling for attitude and subjective norm.

o Meta-analysis by Armitage and Conner (2001) found that PBC contribute increments

of 6% in the explained variance in predicting intentions after taking attitudes and

subjective norms into account.

o In a meta-analysis examining 23 psychosocial predictors of intentions to use

condoms based on 67 independent samples; Sheeran and Taylor (1999) found PBC to

contribute increments of 5% in the variance in intentions over and above the effects

of attitudes and subjective norms.

117

Table 4.5 Empirical Supports for the Link between PBC (as a Global Construct)

and Intention

Reference Context Results Correlation

r-value Sig. Kassem & Lee (2005)

Reduced-fat milk

PBC was a significant predictor of INT

r=.47 p

118

o Hausenblas, Carron and Macks (1997) meta-analysis of 30 studies on exercise

behaviour reports a mean correlation of 0.43 between PBC and intention.

o In their meta-analysis, Hagger, Chatzisarantis and Biddle (2002) found PBC to hold a

considerable strong correlation with intentions to exercise.

As mentioned in the earlier chapter, most TPB researchers generally aggregate the social

cognitive components to reflect the global construct despite recognising their conceptual

differences (Bagozzi, Lee and Van Loo 2001). However, Rhodes, Blanchard and

Matheson (2006) argue that this aggregation approach does not place emphasis on the

predictive ability of the differentiated social cognitive components and hence it defeats

the purpose of differentiating them in the first place. In the context of dietary behaviour,

Poveys et al. (2000) examination of the PBC determinant beliefs reports self-efficacy

and perceived control to have different bases. They conclude that self-efficacy

contributes more to the prediction of dietary behavioural intention compared to perceived

control. In examining two different health-protective behaviours (i.e., breast or testicular

self-exam and dental regime), McCaul et al. (1993) report positive correlations between

perceived self-efficacy, perceived control, and health behavioural intention.

Specifically, in the exercise domain, Kraft et al. (2005) demonstrate perceived

confidence to be a strong predictor of exercise intention. From Nahas, Goldfine and

Collinss (2003, p. 47) definition of perceived self-efficacy: perceptions of personal

efficacy or confidence regarding ones ability to be active on a regular basis, the

perceived confidence does capture the essence of self-efficacy. Hence, it can be said that

perceived self-efficacy is an important factor in influencing exercise intention. In the

same study, Kraft et al. (2005) also found perceived control to be significantly correlated

119

with exercise intention (r=.57). Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2005) also found perceived

control (r=.397, p

120

and opportunities one believe they possess) will lead to greater intention to exercise.

Based on the theoretical and empirical supports, it is thus expected that perceived control

and perceived self-efficacy over participating in exercise activities will positively

influence intention to exercise, leading to the following hypotheses:

H1 (e): Perceived Self-efficacy will positively influence Exercise Intention

H1 (f): Perceived Control will positively influence Exercise Intention

(b) The Links between Personality Factors and Exercise Intention

Yeung and Hemsley (1997b) conclude in an attempt to predict exercise adherence that

though most studies tend to focus merely on social cognitive constructs in examining

exercise behaviour, however, the role of personality factors in predicting exercise

behaviour should not be neglected. In fact, several studies have considered personality

traits in addition to the social cognitive predictors derived from health behavioural

change models such as health belief model, protection motivation theory, transtheoretical

model, etc (these models have been discussed at length in Chapter 3). For instance, in a

recent study examining organic food choice in Taiwan, Chen (2007) examines

moderating effects of personality traits within the TPB framework. Specifically,

Cuaderes, Parker and Burgin (2004) examine the influence of selected personality trait

(i.e., self-motivation) on leisure time physical activity based on Penders (1987) Health

Promotion Model. Further, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) investigate the

influence of a more comprehensive range of personality traits together with several

social cognitive constructs on exercise behaviour.

There exists a body of evidence that those who exercise tend to be different from those

who do not in terms of their personality traits (Yeung and Hemsley 1997a). It is observed

from the literature that personality factors like conscientiousness, extraversion and

121

neuroticism are most widely linked to exercise and/or physical activity compared to

agreeableness and openness to experience. Marshall et al. (1994) support this view and

conclude that openness and agreeableness are substantially neglected in the health

psychology research. Another important point to be highlighted here is that those

exercise studies (e.g., Rhodes and Courneya 2003a; Rhodes, Courneya and Jones 2004)

using the TPB framework focus merely on the relationships between personality and

actual exercise behaviour, however, the links between personality factors and exercise

intention are largely neglected.

Research have generally shown that exercisers tend to have higher score on extraversion

and lower score on neuroticism than less active and non-exercisers (Schnurr, Vaillant

and Vaillant 1990; Szabo 1992). This seems to make sense because people who score

high on extraversion are more sociable and energetic; they tend to seek for activity that is

adventurous and exciting as might be offered by leisure activities such as exercise and

sports. Contrary, people who score high on neuroticism are always feeling tense, nervous,

and emotionally unstable; it is not surprise that they most likely prefer to avoid too

stimulating situations and social activities like sports and exercise.

In an attempt to examine exercise behaviour, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999)

found somewhat mixed results in the two different samples. For female undergraduate

students sample, it was found that only extraversion (r= .27) and conscientiousness (r=

0.20) were significantly and positively correlated with exercise intention whereas

neuroticism (r= -0.17) was significantly and negatively correlated with exercise intention.

As for female aerobics class sample, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) found

openness to experience (r= -0.21) and agreeableness (r= -0.225) to be significantly and

negatively correlated with exercise intention.

122

Consistent with this finding, Adams and Mowen (2005) also found exercise to be

positively related to extraversion and negatively related to agreeableness. However, in

contrary to Courneya, Bobick and Schinkes (1999) findings, Adams and Mowen (2005)

report exercise participation to be positively associated with openness. Schnurr, Vaillant

and Vaillant (1990) found a number of personality variables to be positively related to

frequent exercise (including affective vitality, integration, and lack of anxiety and lack of

shyness) in late middle-aged adults. As expected, this study implies positive relation

between extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and exercise participation; but

exercise participation is negatively related to neuroticism.

Studies that investigated the influence of personality factors on exercise participation

have produced mixed results particularly regarding the relation between openness to

experience and agreeableness with exercise. Hence, there is a need to replicate the study

using different measurement and sampling. For Hypotheses 1(g) to 1(k), exercise

intention serves as a dependent variable and the five personality factors are the

independent variables. Consistent with the body of evidence regarding the links between

the three personality factors (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) and

exercise participation, it is hypothesised that:

H1 (g): Extraversion will positively influence Exercise Intention

H1 (h): Conscientiousness will positively influence Exercise Intention

H1 (i): Neuroticism will negatively influence Exercise Intention

The links between the other two personality factors (i.e., openness to experience and

agreeableness) and exercise intention is also expected to hold in lifestyle behaviour

context. Therefore, it is hypothesised that:

H1 (j): Openness to Experience will positively influence Exercise Intention

H1 (k): Agreeableness will positively influence Exercise Intention

123

4.6.2 The Effects of Exercise Intention on Exercise Behaviour

Behavioural intentions are motivational factors that capture how hard people are

willing to try to perform a behaviour (Ajzen 1991). The exercise intention construct has

been conceptualised in the present study as an individuals motivation to perform

exercise activities in the near future. According to Ajzen (2001), intention is the

immediate and the most influential predictors of actual behaviour. That is, the stronger

peoples intentions to engage in a particular behaviour, the more likely they will actually

perform the behaviour in question.

Many studies have reported strong positive relationships between behavioural intention

and actual behaviour in a variety of settings, including ready meals consumption and

takeaways purchase (e.g., Mahon, Cowan and McCarthy 2006), online purchase and

information search behaviour (e.g., Pavlou and Fygenson 2006), organic food purchase

(e.g., Tarkiainen and Sundqvist 2005), healthy eating (e.g., Povey et al. 2000; Conner et

al. 2003; Payne, Jones and Harris 2004), dietary supplement use (e.g., Conner et al.

2003), recycling behaviour (e.g., Terry, Hogg and White 1999), snacking behaviour

(e.g., Grogan, Bell and Conner 1997), health-protective behaviours (e.g., McCaul et al.

1993), and leisure activities (e.g., Ajzen and Driver 1992a). Specifically, exercise

intention has been demonstrated to be a strong predictor of exercise behaviour in many

TPB studies (e.g., Rhodes, Courneya and Jones 2005; Brickell, Chatzisarantis and Pretty

2006; Symons Downs et al. 2006; Everson, Daley and Ussher 2007),

Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw (1988) and Hausenblas, Carron and Mack (1997)

found an average correlation of .53 and .47 between intention and behaviour in their

meta-analysis. Godin and Koks (1996) review of the Ajzens TPB in the health domain

conclude that intention remained the most important predictor of behaviour and found an

124

average correlation of .52 between exercise behaviour and intention. Further, in another

meta-analysis of 36 TPB studies, Notani (1998) found intention to have a greater impact

on behaviour compared to PBC. In addition to these meta-analyses, a review of the

literature reveals that measures of intention typically account for 20% to 40% of the

variance in various social and health related behaviours (see Armitage and Conner 2001;

Godin and Kok 1996; Sheppard, Hartwick, and Warshaw 1988). For instance, Povey et

al. (2000) found intention to be the best predictor of both low fat diet and fruits and

vegetables eating behaviours in a study of dietary behaviour among general public.

Specifically, in the exercise domain, Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson (2006) found

intention to contribute 42% of the explained variance in predicting exercise behaviour;

while Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2005) found intention a strong predictor of health

behaviour in that intention accounts for 62.85% and 60.68% of the variance in dieting

and exercise behaviour respectively. Similarly, Rhodes and Courneya (2003a) found

intention to have the largest significant effect upon exercise behaviour for both samples

(i.e., undergraduate students and cancer survivors) using SEM technique. Table 4.7

provides further empirical evidences regarding the link between intention and behaviour

in the exercise domain.

There have been very extensive empirical supports for the link between exercise

intention and behaviour. Therefore, it is hypothesised that:

H2: Exercise Intention will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

125

Table 4.7 Empirical Supports for the Link between Exercise Intention and Exercise

Behaviour

Reference Sample Analysis

Method

Results

Hagger et al. (2007)

Undergraduates (n = 525)

SEM Significant direct effects of INT on exercise behaviour

Everson, Daley

& Ussher

(2007)

Young regular

smokers (n=124)

HRA

Correlation

INT was significantly correlated with

behaviour (r=.64). Exercise behaviour was

significantly explained by INT ( =.58, p

126

4.6.3 The Effects of Social Cognitive and Personality Factors on Exercise Behaviour

This section provides theoretical and empirical justifications for the support of

the hypotheses which delineate the relationships between social cognitive, personality

factors and exercise behaviour.

(a) The Links between Social Cognitive Constructs and Exercise Behaviour

It is observed that most of the TPB researchers do not focus on examining how well

attitude and subjective norm predict behaviour. The common practice in the literature is

to include only intention and PBC into stepwise or hierarchical regression analysis based

on the tenets of the TPB (Ajzen 1991). Some of these researchers also examine the

potential mediating effects of behavioural intention between attitude, subjective norm,

and PBC on behaviour. Nevertheless, there are several exceptional studies. For instance,

Davis, Johnson, Miller-Cribbs, Cronen and Scheuler-Whitaker (2002) and

Onghununtakul (2004) investigate the direct influence of TPB constructs on behaviour

and found attitude significantly predicted academic performance and green behaviour,

respectively.

In the exercise domain, Rhodes, Courneya and Jones (2004, 2005) and Rhodes,

Blanchard and Matheson (2006) also found attitude components to significantly predict

exercise behaviour. Lastly, subjective norm is consistently shown to be an insignificant

predictor of exercise behaviour (Ajzen and Driver 1992a; Godin and Kok 1996). Instead,

the effect of subjective norm on exercise behaviour is mediated through behavioural

intention (Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005). Empirical evidences for the positive

relationship between the social cognitive construct (as global construct) and exercise

behaviour is presented in Table 4.8. In the next section, the links between attitude

components and exercise behaviour will first be discussed. This is followed by the

127

relationships between subjective norm components and exercise behaviour, and lastly the

effects of PBC components on exercise behaviour.

Table 4.8 Empirical Supports for the Links between Social Cognitive Factors (as

Global Construct) and Behaviour

Reference Context Correlation

Att B Correlation

SN B Correlation

PBC B

r Sig. r Sig. r Sig.

Terry, Hogg & White

(1999)

Recycling

Behaviour

r=.36 p

128

several exercise studies (e.g., Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005; Kraft et al. 2005; Rhodes,

Courneya and Jones 2005; Rhodes and Courneya 2005; Rhodes, Blanchard and

Matheson 2006) found both the affective attitude and instrumental attitude to be

positively correlated to exercise behaviour. Table 4.9 presents the empirical supports for

the relationships between the two attitude components and exercise behaviour. Hence,

the following hypotheses are posited:

H3 (a): Instrumental Attitude will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

H3 (b): Affective Attitude will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

Table 4.9 Empirical Supports for the Link between Attitude Components and

Exercise Behaviour

Source Sample (N) Results

Rhodes, Blanchard &

Matheson (2006)

Undergraduate

students (n=220)

AA (r=.60) and IA (r=.29) are significantly

correlated with exercise behaviour. AA (but not

IA) had significant total effect on exercise behaviour

Kraft et al. (2005) Undergraduate

students (n=232)

AA (r=.29) and IA (r=.19) are significantly

correlated with exercise behaviour

Rhodes, Courneya &

Jones (2005)

Undergraduate

students (n=298)

AA (r=.38) and IA (r=.26) are significantly

correlated with exericse behaviour

Hagger &

Chatzisarantis (2005)

University students

employees (n=596)

AA (r=.561) and IA (r=.635) are significantly

related to exercise behaviour

Rhodes & Courneya

(2005)

Undergraduate

students (n=585)

AA (r=.34) and IA (r=.24) are significantly

related to exercies behaviour

Rhodes, Courneya &

Jones (2004)

Undergraduate

students (n=298) AA (=0.29) had significant indirect effects on

exercise behaviour through INT, but not IA

Notes: Instrumental Attitude (IA); Affective Attitude (AA); Intention (INT)

ii. Subjective Norm components and its effects on exercise behaviour

The relationship between subjective norm and exercise behaviour though significant as

demonstrated in several exercise studies (e.g., Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005; Rhodes

and Courneya 2005; Rhodes, Courneya and Jones 2005), but the correlations are

generally weaker compared to the link between attitude and exercise behaviour. In fact,

there are a number of studies that produce insignificant correlation between subjective

129

norm and exercise behaviour. For instance, Everson, Daley and Ussher (2007), Brickell,

Chatzisarantis and Pretty (2006), and Norman, Conner and Bell (2000) found

insignificant association between subjective norm and exercise behaviour.

In terms of the links between specific subjective norm components and behaviour, the

findings in the literature are somewhat mixed. For instance, Onghununtakul (2004) found

both injunctive norm and descriptive norm to be positively related to green behaviour;

however, only descriptive norm significantly predicted green behaviour. In the exercise

domain, Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson (2006) only found significant correlation for

the link between injunctive norm and exercise behaviour with relatively low coefficient

(r=.16), however, they found insignificant correlation between descriptive norm and

exercise behaviour. Nevertheless, there are at least two exercise studies that demonstrate

significant positive correlation between injunctive norm, descriptive norm and exercise

behaviour (i.e., Okun et al. 2003; Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005).

Given the importance of peer influence and social support in exercise participation, the

normative influence on exercise behaviour should not be overlooked. It is expected that

greater social pressure from ones circle of influence will lead to greater exercise

participation. Table 4.10 presents the empirical supports for the relationships between the

two subjective norm components and exercise behaviour. Thus, the following hypotheses

are posed:

H3 (c): Injunctive Norm will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

H3 (d): Descriptive Norm will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

130

Table 4.10 Empirical Supports for the Link between Subjective Norm Components

and Behaviour

Source Sample (N) Results

Rhodes, Blanchard

& Matheson

(2006)

Undergraduate

students (n=220)

IN (r=.16, p

131

seems that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the PBC construct is crucial in

determining the relationship between PBC and actual behaviour. Indeed, there are ample

empirical evidences to show that PBC is a significant predictor of behaviour. Table 4.11

presents the empirical supports for the effect of PBC on health behaviour.

Table 4.11 Empirical Supports for the Link between PBC and Exercise Behaviour

Source Sample (N) Results

Everson, Daley &

Ussher (2007)

Young regular smokers

between 16-19 yrs

(n=124)

PBC (= 0.17) was a significant (p

132

Wilbur (2001) also found self-efficacy to have a statistically significant positive effect on

exercise behaviour.

Based on the aforementioned literature, it is expected that perceived control and

perceived self-efficacy will be positively related to exercise behaviour. Table 4.12

summarises the empirical supports for the links between perceived control, perceived

self-efficacy and exercise behaviour. Hence, the following hypotheses are posited:

H3 (e): Perceived Self-efficacy will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

H3 (f): Perceived Control will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

Table 4.12 Empirical Supports for the Links between PBC Components and Health

Behaviour

Source Sample (N) Results

Sylvia-Bobiak & Caldwell (2006)

Undergraduate students (n=874)

SE had the largest total effect on active leisure ( = 0.40, p

133

(b) The Links between Personality Factors Exercise Behaviour

In a more general healthy lifestyle context, Arad (1998) examines the relationships

between personality-related traits (i.e., the Big Five and gender-related traits) and health

behaviours such as measures of nutrition and dietary habits, drinking, drug use,

participation in high-risk hobbies including exercise behaviour. In the same study, the

Pearson Correlation analyses showed a number of significant relationships between

personality measures and health behaviours; the Regression analyses also reveal three

Big Five traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, and openness) to be significant predictors

of life stressors, nutrition and dietary habits, and alcohol and cigarette use. This is

consistent with the findings of Steptoe et al. (1994), who report that several lifestyle

behaviours including smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep time and a variety

of dietary and preventive practices to be positively associated with extraversion, and

negatively related with neuroticism.

Lemos-Giraldez and Fidalgo-Aliste (1997) investigate the relationships between

personality factors and several health behaviours like smoking, drinking, exercise and

diet. Their research found agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and

neuroticism to be significant predictor of health behaviour for women; whereas only

conscientiousness was significant in predicting health behaviour for men. In another

health behavioural study, Marks and Lutgendorf (1999) found that conscientiousness and

neuroticism predicted relaxation behaviour significantly whereby higher levels of

conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism lead to a greater likelihood of

relaxation behaviour engagement.

The role of personality in predicting exercise behaviour has been gaining greater

attention among researchers (Hagan 2004). Individual personality does play an important

role in discriminating the level of exercise motivation and behaviour (Rhodes, Courneya

134

and Bobick 2001). Specifically, neuroticism is negatively related whereas

conscientiousness and extraversion are positively related to exercise participation and

adherence (Szabo 1992; Potgieter and Venter 1995; Yeung and Hemsley 1997a). The

hypotheses developed in the present study are established based on previous personality

and exercise research that is available (see Table 4.13).

Table 4.13 Empirical Supports for the Link between Personality Factors and

Health Behaviour

References Context Sign and Significance of Relationship

E C N O A Adams & Mowen

(2005)

Dieting &

Exercise

No +ve Yes -ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes

Hagan (2004) Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Marks & Lutgendorf

(1999)

Exercise Not

studied

+ve Yes No Not

studied

Not

studied Relaxation +ve Yes -ve Yes

Courneya, Bobick &

Schinke (1999) undergraduate

sample

Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Courneya, Bobick &

Schinke (1999) female aerobics class sample

Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Not

studied

Courneya & Hellsten

(1998)

Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes +ve Yes Not

studied

Arad (1998) Healthy Lifestyle

+ve Yes Not studied

-ve Yes +ve Yes Not studied

Yeung & Hemsley

(1997a)

Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Potgieter & Venter (1995)

Exercise Behaviour

No Not studied

-ve Yes Not studied

Not studied

Steptoe et al. (1994) Lifestyle

Behaviour

+ve Yes Not

studied

-ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Booth-Kewley & Vickers (1994)

Health Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes No +ve Yes

Szabo (1992) Exercise

Behaviour

+ve Yes Not

studied

-ve Yes Not

studied

Not

studied

Schnurr, Vaillant & Vaillant (1990)

Exercise Behaviour

+ve Yes +ve Yes -ve Yes Not studied

+ve Yes

Notes:

1. Extraversion (E); Conscientiousness (C); Neuroticism (N); Openness (O); Agreeableness (A) 2. Yes denotes significant link / No denotes insignificant link

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Generally, there are consistent research findings for the association between exercise

behaviour and neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness. Previous research has

demonstrated that conscientiousness and extraversion would be the best Big Five

predictors of exercise behaviour (Bogg and Roberts 2004; Courneya and Hellsten 1998).

For instance, Booth-Kewley and Vickers (1994) investigate these five personality factors

and its relationship to several wellness behaviours and found conscientiousness to

contribute to the prediction of exercise and healthy eating behaviour. Consistent with this

finding, Marks and Lutgendorf (1999) also found individuals with greater

conscientiousness demonstrated significantly higher level of exercise participation.

Courneya and associates have investigated the relationships between these personality

factors and exercise behaviour and found exercise participation to be negatively related

to neuroticism, and positively related to both extraversion and conscientiousness (i.e.,

Courneya and Hellsten, 1998; Courneya, Bobick, and Schinke, 1999; Rhodes, Courneya,

and Bobick, 2001). For instance, using the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa and

McCrae 1992a) and the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin and

Shephard 1985), Courneya and Hellsten (1998) found extraversion and

conscientiousness to be positively related whereas neuroticism is negatively related to

exercise behaviour. The other unexpected significant positive correlation was found

between openness to experience and moderate exercise behaviour. Similarly, Hagan

(2004) also examines the relationship between exercise behaviour and personality factors

using the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and the NEO-PI-R (i.e., a revised version

of personality inventory). Again, the research findings demonstrate that exercise

behaviour is positively associated with extraversion and conscientiousness, and

negatively related to neuroticism.

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Consistent with the body of research, Courneya, Bobick and Schinke (1999) found only

extraversion and conscientiousness to be significantly and positively correlated with

exercise behaviour whereas neuroticism was significantly and negatively correlated with

exercise behaviour using undergraduate students as sample. However, when the female

aerobics class samples were examined, only extraversion (r= 0.29) and conscientiousness

(r= 0.21) were significantly and positively correlated with exercise behaviour. In terms

of predictive ability, only extraversion was found to be predictive of exercise behaviour

for both samples in Courneya, Bobick and Schinkes (1999) study. This is consistent

with the findings of Rhodes and Courneya (2003a) that only extraversion was able to

predict exercise behaviour.

Additionally, Rhodes, Courneya and Jones (2005) also found that all the facets of

extraversion (i.e., sociability, assertiveness, and activity) are positively correlated with

exercise frequency. Further, the findings of Yeung and Hemsley (1997b) indicate that

extraversion accounted for approximately 16% of the variance in predicting exercise

behaviour. The body of evidences again indicate that extraversion has relatively stronger

correlation with exercise behaviour as compared to other personality factors. It can be

seen from the above discussion that there are sufficient empirical evidences to support

the links between extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism and exercise behaviour,

however, the literature regarding the links between openness to experience,

agreeableness, and exercise participation is limited (Marshall et al. 1994).

i. Extraversion and its effect on exercise behaviour

The traits frequently related with extraversion dimension are sociable, assertive, talkative,

and active (Digman 1990). Extraverts tend to be full of energy and enthusiasm, outgoing,

and have a higher need for stimulation (John and Srivastava 1999). Extraversion is

associated with sociability and it reflects the participative nature of some health practices.

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For instance, a number of studies have previously shown healthy lifestyle adoption

among individual with wide social networks (Steptoe et al. 1994). Hence, it is logical to

speculate that extraverts are more likely to take part in group activities compared to

introverts (Potgieter and Venter 1995) and that extraverts would be more attracted to

exercise participation because exercise can satisfy the social and relatedness need

(Ingledew, Markland and Sheppard 2004). While Szabo (1992) found that habitually

exercising individual score higher on the extraversion scale than non-exercising

individual, Rhodes, Courneya and Bobick (2001) assert that high extraversion

individuals are not only likely to adopt active behaviours such as regular exercise, but

also are more likely to adhere and maintain regular exercise. Hence, it is hypothesised

that:

H3 (g): Extraversion will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

ii. Conscientiousness and its effect on exercise behaviour

People high on the conscientiousness scale tend to be reliable, thorough, responsible,

organised, strong-willed, task-focused, achievement-oriented and persevering (Digman

1990; McCrae and John 1992). The conceptual definition of conscientiousness suggests

that this personality factor may have influence on consumer health practices as stated by

Steptoe et al. (1994, p.340) that people with consistently positive health practices tend

to be responsible and conscientious, with a lack of impulsiveness and an orderly

approach to life. Therefore, conscientiousness can be expected to have positive

relationship with healthy-promoting behaviour (Marks and Lutgendorf 1999).

Presumably, this expectation applies to exercise behaviour, the following hypothesis is

established:

H3 (h): Conscientiousness will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

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iii. Neuroticism and its effect on exercise behaviour

Neuroticism is associated with undesirable characteristics including being anxious,

depressed, emotional, worried, moody, nervous, sad, tense, and insecure (John and

Srivastava 1999). People scoring high on the neuroticism scale are more anxious,

emotionally unstable, and tend to get stress up very easily (Digman 1990). The

dimension of neuroticism is strongly associated with healthy lifestyle behaviour (Marks

and Lutgendorf 1999). Several studies have examined the links between neuroticism and

health practices, such as nutrition and dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption,

drug use, and exercise behaviour (e.g., Steptoe et al. 1994; Lemos-Giraldez and Fidalgo-

Aliste 1997; Arad 1998; Marks and Lutgendorf 1999). These studies consistently found

neuroticism to be negatively related to health behaviours. Based on the aforementioned

literature review regarding the relationships between neuroticism and exercise, it is

hypothesised that the predisposition to emotional instability associated with neuroticism

serves to inhibit ones exercise participation. The following hypothesis is posited:

H3 (i): Neuroticism will negatively influence Exercise Behaviour

iv. The effects of openness to experience and agreeableness on exercise behaviour

Detwiler (1996) found that agreeableness is relatively weaker compared to the other four

personality factor. There were not much evidence to support the correlation between

openness to experience, agreeableness, and exercise participation (see Table 4.13).

Nevertheless, an examination of the openness to experience and agreeableness factors in

the present model is deemed to be more compatible with comprehensive model of

personality-exercise behaviour link (Marshall et al. 1994). Besides, Courneya and

Hellsten (1998) suggest future research to look further into the link between personality

and exercise behaviour especially the openness factor as the findings indicated that

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openness may be linked to exercise behaviour. Based on the aforementioned literature, it

is hypothesised that:

H3 (j): Openness to Experience will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

H3 (k): Agreeableness will positively influence Exercise Behaviour

4.6.4 Exercise Intention as the Mediating Variable between Social Cognitive

Constructs, Personality Factors and Exercise Behaviour

In this section, the mediating role of exercise intention between social cognitive

components and exercise behaviour will first be explored. This is followed by discussing

the exercise intention as the mediating effect between personality factors and exercise

behaviour.

(a) Exercise Intention as the Mediating Variable between Social Cognitive Constructs and Exercise Behaviour

As originally formulated by Ajzen (1991), attitude and subjective norm are hypothesised

to influence the target behaviour through effects mediated by behavioural intention.

Several empirical studies have indicated supports for the mediating role of intention. For

example, in examining exercise and dieting behaviour, Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2005)

found intention to mediate the influence of affective attitude and instrumental attitude on

both behaviours studied. Similarly, Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson (2006) also found

the two attitude components to have significant effects on exercise behaviour through

exercise intention. Thus, the following hypotheses are posed:

H4 (a): The influence of Instrumental Attitude on Exercise Behaviour will be mediated

through Exercise Intention

H4 (b): The influence of Affective Attitude on Exercise Behaviour will be mediated

through Exercise Intention

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Besides attitude components-intention-behaviour path, Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2005)

also found the effects of injunctive norm and descriptive norm on both exercise and

dieting behaviour to be mediated by behavioural intention. Rhodes, Courneya and Jones

(2004) also found subjective norm to have significant indirect effects on exercise

behaviour through exercise intention using SEM technique. Another study investigating

supplement taking behaviour among women population by Conner et al. (2001) also

supports that the effects of both attitude and subjective norm on behaviour are mediated

by behavioural intention. Specifically, in the exercise domain, Courneya and McAuleys

(1995) finding suggests that exercise intention is the final pathway to exercise adherence

and mediates all other relationships in the TPB model.

Based on the tenets of TPB and empirical evidences as discussed above, injunctive norm

and descriptive norm are expected to have effects on exercise behaviour through exercise

intention. This lead to the following hypotheses:

H4 (c): The influence of Injunction Norm on Exercise Behaviour will be mediated

through Exercise Intention

H4 (d): The influence of Descriptive Norm on Exercise Behaviour will be mediated

through Exercise Intention

A number of studies found strong evidence for the distinction between perceived control

and perceived self-efficacy, and found PBC constructs to have significant better fit when

modelled as two separate components (e.g., Armitage and Conner 2001; Ajzen 2002b;

Rhodes and Courneya 2003b; Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2005; Rhodes and Blanchard

2006; Rhodes, Blanchard and Matheson 2006). Nevertheless, there are still limited solid

and conclusive empirical supports for the prediction of these two components (i.e.,

perceived control and perceived self-efficacy) on actual behaviour (Ajzen 2002a). For

instance, Povey et al. (2000) found self-efficacy to be a predictor of fat intake but not for

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fruits and vegetables eating; whereas perceived control did not significantly predict both

dietary behaviours.

As mentioned in the earlier chapter, the original PBC concept may have both direct and

indirect effects on behaviour (Ajzen 1991). That is, there are two versions of the TPB as

depicted in Figure 3.6 (see page 46). The first version (Version 1) assumes that PBC has

an indire