A cohort study investigating the relationship between perceived social norms on habitual food consumption

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country with a high agricultural productivity potential; however, the agribusiness sector remains unattractive to youths. This study examined the extent to which perceived social norms and psychological capital affect youths’ intentions to pursue agribusiness opportunities in the Eastern DRC. Data was collected on a sample of 600 youths. We applied Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS−SEM) in order to examine the relationship between the variables. The findings indicated that most of the youths did not select agribusiness as their top career choice. The intention to engage in agribusiness activities was significantly higher among the youths who perceived that agribusiness was socially valued and supported. Psychological capital significantly and positively affects youths’ agripreneurial intention. The findings contribute to the underlying Theory of Planned Behavior by supporting a positive mediation role of psychological capital—and the moderating roles of educational level, gender, access to land, and location—on the relationship between perceived social norms and agripreneurial intention. The paper concludes that the provision of funds is not enough to promote youth agripreneurship in an environment in which agricultural-related social norms, youths’ psychological capital, gender, access to land, educational level, and location (rural versus urban) are not thoroughly considered.

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“If they believe, then so shall I”: Perceived beliefs of the in-group predict conspiracy theory belief

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430221993907 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (5) ◽

pp. 759-782

Author(s):

Darel Cookson ◽

Daniel Jolley ◽

Robert C. Dempsey ◽

Rachel Povey

Keyword(s):

University Students ◽

Social Norms ◽

Community Sample ◽

Conspiracy Theory ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Conspiracy Beliefs ◽

Parent Sample ◽

Perceived Social Norms ◽

The Relationship

Conspiracy beliefs are widespread and can have detrimental consequences. As perceived social norms can exert a powerful influence on individuals, we investigated the relationship between perceived conspiracy belief norms and personal endorsement, and whether others’ conspiracy belief is overestimated. In Study 1, UK university students ( N = 111) completed measures of their personal conspiracy beliefs and estimations of others’ beliefs (an in-group and an out-group they chose, and a prescribed in-group). Perceived in-groups’ belief strongly predicted personal conspiracy belief; perceived out-group’s belief did not. Studies 2 and 3 replicated these findings in a British community sample ( N = 177) and in a UK parent sample ( N = 197), focusing on antivaccine conspiracy theories. All studies demonstrated that people overestimate the conspiracy beliefs of others. This is the first demonstration of the association between perceived in-group conspiracy belief social norms and individuals’ personal conspiracy beliefs. Interventions challenging misperceived norms could be effective in reducing conspiracy beliefs.

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The impact of belongingness and graphic-based emoticon usage motives on emoticon purchase intentions for MIM: an analysis of Korean KakaoTalk users

Online Information Review ◽

10.1108/oir-02-2020-0036 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Bohee Jung ◽

Hanku Kim ◽

Seung Hwan (Shawn) Lee

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Peer Review ◽

Purchase Intentions ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Content Type ◽

Perceived Acceptance ◽

Perceived Enjoyment ◽

Perceived Social Norms ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

PurposeAlthough graphic-based emoticons in mobile instant messenger (MIM) services became an important revenue source for their service provider, empirical research investigating factors influencing graphic-based emoticon purchase from the consumer's perspective is insufficient. The authors explore how user's achieved belongingness (acceptance or rejection) affects graphic based emoticon usage motivations and its purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachA structural model is used to examine the relationship among individual's overall achieved belongingness, motivation factors of graphic-based emoticon usage in MIM such as perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived enjoyment for others, social norm and emoticon purchase intentions. The authors collected and analyzed survey data of 279 Korean KakaoTalk users.FindingsThe analysis shows that perceived acceptance/inclusion positively impacts perceived usefulness, enjoyment and enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage. Meanwhile, perceived rejection/exclusion positively impacts perceived enjoyment and enjoyment of others but negatively influences perceived social norms. Moreover, social norms and perceived enjoyment directly affect graphic-based emoticon purchase intentions. The authors also find that perceived enjoyment of others and perceived social norms in a serial causal order mediate the relationship between perceived acceptance/inclusion (and rejection/exclusion) and emoticon purchase intentions.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional research including users from other demographic groups, such as other age groups, is required to generalize our findings and to increase external validity.Originality/valueUnique implications related to the role of user's achieved belongingness and perceived enjoyment of others in graphic-based emoticon usage in purchase intentions are found.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/ 10.1108/OIR-02-2020-0036

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The influence of perceived social norms on the relationship of perceptions of sexual intent and commitment of sexual aggression

10.31274/etd-180810-2255 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Edwards

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Sexual Aggression ◽

Sexual Intent ◽

Perceived Social Norms ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

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The influence of social norms varies with “others” groups: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination intentions

10.31219/osf.io/c3a5j ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nathaniel Rabb ◽

Jake Bowers ◽

David Glick ◽

Kevin H. Wilson ◽

David Vincent Yokum

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Social Norms ◽

Age Groups ◽

Strong Relationship ◽

Randomized Experiments ◽

Real Risk ◽

Matched Design ◽

Perceived Social Norms ◽

City State ◽

The Relationship

The theory that health behaviors spread through social groups implies that efforts to control the pandemic through vaccination will succeed if people believe that others in their groups are getting vaccinated. But “others” can refer to many (often overlapping) groups, such as one’s family, neighborhood, city, state, or political party. These distinctions and their relationship to behavior are understudied in the social norms and public health literature. One challenge to studying them is that many factors may confound making inferences from observed relationships between perceived social norms (what people believe others do) and intended behaviors (what people themselves will do) because there are often plausible common causes for both. For example, vaccination intentions and perceptions of one’s social group’s intentions could both increase with age, since age is a known COVID-19 risk factor and people may know more people in their own age groups. We address these issues by applying a matched design that approximates pair-randomized experiments to survey data collected in the US during late fall 2020 (N = 890) and spring 2021 (N = 996). We find that a strong relationship between perceived vaccination social norms and vaccination intentions remains when controlling for a host of real risk factors as well as dimensions known to predict COVID-19 preventive behaviors even though they are not associated with risk. The strength of the relationship declines as the queried social group grows larger and more heterogeneous. The relationship for co-partisans is second in magnitude to that of family and friends among Republicans but undetectable for Democrats. Sensitivity analysis shows that these relationships could be explained away only by an unmeasured variable with large effects on both social norms perceptions and vaccination intentions (odds ratios between two and nineteen times), and a prediction from the false consensus interpretation that intentions cause perceived social norms is not supported. We discuss the implications for public health policy and understanding social norms.

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Perceived social norms, psychological capital and entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students in Bukavu

Education + Training ◽

10.1108/et-10-2018-0212 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 61 (7/8) ◽

pp. 963-983

Author(s):

Akilimali Ndatabaye Ephrem ◽

Rebecca Namatovu ◽

Edith Mwebaza Basalirwa

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Psychological Capital ◽

Developing Economies ◽

Entrepreneurship Education ◽

Entrepreneurial Intention ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Actual Behavior ◽

Content Type ◽

Perceived Social Norms ◽

The Relationship

Purpose Entrepreneurship is important for economic growth, through its role in the provision of employment. In the recent past, a number of African universities have developed entrepreneurship education courses to facilitate the growing demand for entrepreneurs in the market. An immediate outcome anticipated from entrepreneurship education is to increase entrepreneurial intention (EI) among the participants. Unfortunately, most of the entrepreneurship education in developing economies has not been linked to an increase in the EI of students. This paper thus proposes that it is when students possess high levels of psychological capital and perceive positive social norms that entrepreneurship education will lead to positive EI. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between perceived social norms (PSN), psychological capital and EI of university students. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire on a random sample of 196 final year entrepreneurship and business management students, from three universities in Bukavu (East of DRC). Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings The paper provides four main findings. First, PSN and psychological capital have a positive significant effect on EI. Second, PSN contribute more to this effect than psychological capital. Third, PSN make a positive and significant effect on psychological capital. Lastly, psychological capital positively mediates the relationship between PSN and EI. Research limitations/implications This study could have benefited from a qualitative approach to have a more in-depth explanation of these relationships. The study is conducted amongst students who operate in a controlled environment. This may not reflect the actual behavior of entrepreneurs. Practical implications This work provides cues of what entrepreneurship educators should consider as they recruit and train students. Specifically, the study highlights the importance of students’ psychological capital and positive social norms in transforming entrepreneurial education into intention. Originality/value This study adds value to knowledge by highlighting the mediating role of psychological capital on the relationship between PSN and EI.

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