Theory of Planned Behavior - Essay Example

The intention of this study is the theory of planned behavior that considers the attitudes towards behavior. The theory was proposed by Icek Ajzen as an extension of his earlier work on the theory of reasoned action. The theory asserts that personal attitudes, subjective norms and the behavioral control will shape individual behavioral intentions. The attitude towards behavior is the individual positive or negative feelings which guide the performance of the behavior. The attitude can be assessed from the belief regarding the outcomes from the behavior and evaluation of the desirability of the behavior.

The subjective norm is the individual perception of whether the immediate or close people to the individual feel that the behavior should be performed. The opinion of the referent persons is weighted by the motivation of the individual to comply with the desires of the referent on the behavior. The total subjective norm can be calculated by the taking the sum of the individual perception multiplied by the motivation assessments for all the relevant referents. The other factor which governs the theory of perceived behavior is the perceived behavioral control which is the individual perception on the difficulty of performing the behavior.

The perceived behavioral control ranges with the kind of behavior since some behavior are easily performed hence difficult to control while others require considerable time, efforts and resources in their performance. (Sallberg, 1998). Behavior I have changed The theory of planned behavior aids people in changing or adapting to new behaviors. For instance, the theory has helped me develop time management skills and stop being late for meetings. The theory asserts that behavior is determined by the individual intentions which are plans to commit certain acts (Ajzen, 2005).

I had a negative attitude towards lateness for meetings. I felt that lateness for meetings was unnecessary since I kept other members waiting for me in order to commence our meeting agenda. My lateness negatively affected my participation in the meeting discussion since members of the group could no longer accept any apologies from me. My lateness also negatively affected my ability to interact freely with the members and the possibility of being assigned more responsibilities like being the chairman of the meeting.

I felt that lateness was undesirable since it negatively affected by performance evaluation in the meeting discussion hence it took various steps to avoid the behavior (Sallberg, 1998). According to the subjective norm of the referents, the members of the meetings felt that my lateness was undesirable and that I should strive to manage my time well and attend meetings on time without fail. The members of the meetings were important since the meetings would discuss academic issues which were critical to my studies.

My close friends, relatives and colleagues also had similar sentiments on my poor time management hence I had to try as much as possible to change my poor time management skills. I was highly motivated to comply with the requirements of the members of the meetings since I risked sanctions from the group (Ajzen, 2005). According to my perceived behavioral control, I considered the behavior easy to change since I was knowledgeable about the