Kokkinaki, Flora; (1997) The impact of involvement on the attitude-behaviour sequence. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis argues for the importance of involvement as a factor playing a significant part in the processes through which attitudes exert their impact on behaviour. After reviewing theoretical approaches and research findings related to the effects of involvement on attitude formation and on attitude-behaviour consistency, the role of the variable within the most prominent models of the attitude-behaviour sequence is investigated. This investigation is conducted in a consumer behaviour context. The model of automatic attitude activation posits that attitudes can be automatically retrieved to influence behaviour in a spontaneous, effortless way. Attitude accessibility, which reflects the strength of the object-evaluation association in memory, determines the ability of attitudes for such automatic activation. The first two studies of the thesis examine the role of involvement within this model and, specifically, the relation between involvement, accessibility and attitude-behaviour consistency. The findings indicate that involvement functions as an antecedent of attitude accessibility. High levels of involvement are associated with more accessible attitudes. However, involvement and accessibility contribute independently to attitude-behaviour correspondence. Unlike the model of automatic attitude activation, the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour view intentional behaviour as the end result of rational consideration of information. According to these models, intentions and behaviour are jointly determined by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, which are, respectively, based on individuals' beliefs concerning the consequences, the social approval and the anticipated ease or difficulty of performing the behaviour. However, the conditions that determine the relative importance of each of these factors are not specified in the models. Two studies were conducted to investigate the moderating effect of involvement on the relative importance of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control. The findings indicate that high levels of involvement enhance attitudinal influence and attenuate normative and control influence on intentions and behaviour. The MODE model integrates automatic and controlled attitude-to-behaviour processes by specifying the conditions that promote one versus the other. According to this model, both motivation and opportunity to deliberate are a prerequisite for a controlled process to occur. The last study examines the role of involvement within the MODE model and demonstrates that the variable serves as a motivational factor determining the occurrence of controlled versus automatic attitudinal processes. In the final chapter, the research issues are discussed in the light of the empirical findings and conclusions are drawn.

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