Factors Influencing Donation Intention to Personal Medical Crowdfunding Projects Appearing on MSNS

This purpose of this study is to develop a research model by extending the theory of planned behavior in a new application context, and applies it to investigate the extrinsic factors influencing people’s attitude towards donating to medical crowdfunding projects appearing on mobile social networking sites (MSNS) and their intention to donate. A survey of 356 Chinese users was conducted and structural equation modeling was used to validate the proposed model and hypotheses. The results indicate that project information, retweeter information and MSNS information all have the significant effect on the general attitude towards donating to medical crowdfunding projects, and general attitude positively affects people’s donation intention. In addition, perceived behavioral control also has positive effect on people’s donation intention, while experienced donating to medical crowdfunding projects has negative effect on people’s donation intention. The research findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.

Intention to adopt cryptocurrency: a robust contribution of trust and the theory of planned behavior

PurposeAt present, the adoption of cryptocurrency investment has brought consideration to the globe. The present paper attempts to investigate the intention to adopt cryptocurrency (IACR) among the potential investors of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThe theory of planned behavior (TPB) is applied to underpin the conceptual framework. The study uses a quantitative approach. The study collects cross-sectional data through an online survey questionnaire. In the last, the authors utilized 334 samples for outcomes.FindingsFindings of the SEM reveal a significant positive effect of attitude, subjective norms (SNs), perceived behavioral control (PBC) and trust on IACR.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of an investigation would develop further intention and trust towards cryptocurrency adoption. The results would support developing favorable policies regarding the reduction of the ban on cryptocurrency in Pakistan to make easier transactions of the investors further. Possibly, it brings several opportunities in all segments of society in making the digital transaction modes through cryptocurrency. Finally, the findings would further validate the TPB in the context of cryptocurrency.Originality/valueThe study provides a better understanding of cryptocurrency and investors IACR. The empirical evidence further develops the other individuals' intentions towards cryptocurrency usage.

Social Psychology and the Willingness of Different Citizens to Participate in a Car Lottery

To investigate citizens’ participation behavior in the lottery under the influence of the license plate lottery policy (LPLP) and to guide them to participate in the lottery rationally, this paper, based on social psychology and combined with the theory of planned behavior, divides citizens into citizens with cars in their households and citizens without cars in their households. This study then separately constructs structural equation models, sets perceived car necessity (PCN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), attitude toward car ownership (ATT), and subjective norms (SN), respectively. These four psychological latent variables were used to analyze the participation behavior of different categories of citizens in the car lottery from the perspective of psychological factors. Our empirical study found that there are significant differences in age and the number of people living together. The mechanism of their intention to participate in the car lottery and the psychological factors are different. The psychological factors affecting the intention of people with a car and people without a car to participate in the car lottery are SN > ATT > PCN > PBC and ATT > SN > PBC, respectively. Our research results can help to identify the internal factors and mechanisms that influence citizens’ intention to participate in the car lottery and help government administrators to optimize the LPLP.

Farmers’ Perceptions, Insight Behavior and Communication Strategies for Rice Straw and Stubble Management in Thailand

The adoption of rice straw and stubble management approaches can be affected by various factors. To understand the psychological factors influencing Thai farmers’ adoption of rice straw and stubble management approaches, three integrated behavioral theories were employed: the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) and the Health Belief Model (HBM). Then, a practical communication framework was synthesized and proposed to promote rice straw utilization for social-ecological benefits to achieve more sustainable agricultural production. Through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with 240 local farmers, a statistical analysis was performed employing cross-tab, stepwise multiple linear regression, one-way ANOVA and descriptive content analysis using QDA lite miner software. The key results clearly showed that perceived pro-environmental personal norms, perceived cues to rice straw utilization, perceived behavioral control, perceived severity of rice straw burning, perceived ascription of responsibility, and the perceived benefits of rice straw utilization were significantly negatively influenced by burning, and that there was a significantly negative difference to non-burning approaches. Meanwhile, cost savings as perceived benefits of the current option of burning showed a significantly positive difference when compared with incorporation and free-duck grazing options. In communication strategies to promote rice straw utilization for achieving sustainable agriculture, key messages should highlight the clear steps of rice straw utilization, as well as the costs and benefits of each option in terms of economic, health, environmental and social perspectives. Moreover, messages designed to promote action knowledge and self-efficacy at the group level, to promote perceived responsibility via self-awareness and self-commitment, and convenient channels of communication to the farmers can help to achieve more effective non-burning rice straw and stubble management.

Factors Affecting Consumers’ Purchasing of Suboptimal Foods during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, global food production and transportation have been largely impacted. Meanwhile, consumers have purchased and stockpiled large quantities of foods due to panic in the early stage of the pandemic, which has resulted in a lot of uneaten, expired foods and has reduced the varieties of foods available in the markets. Due to the lower prices, some consumers have chosen to buy those foods with an earlier production time or inferior quality (suboptimal foods), and the purchase rate of suboptimal foods has increased. Therefore, this study investigated consumer behavior during the pandemic as the research focus, explored the main dimensions that affect consumers’ purchasing of suboptimal foods during the COVID-19 pandemic, tested their correlations, and proposed suggestions for improvement. The results of this study showed that the impacts of Perceived Benefits on Attitude Toward Behavior, Perceived Behavioral Control, and Subject Norm rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in importance, respectively, which are all higher than the related impact of Environmental Concerns. For consumers, the most important thing is whether suboptimal foods have consumption motivation for them, which is also the most direct way to make consumers feel the value of suboptimal foods. Furthermore, for consumers, while the environmentally friendly attributes of suboptimal foods are less perceptible than the economic motivations, they still have considerable influence on consumers, and this is even more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families have experienced a shock to their income during the pandemic, and consumers are more sensitive and concerned about commodity prices, which also makes lower-priced and more abundant suboptimal foods more popular. However, in the long term, suboptimal foods can have a positive impact on reducing food waste and protecting the environment. When consumers realize this, they will be more motivated to purchase and try suboptimal foods.

Theory of planned behavior, ethics and intention of conscious consumption in Slow Fashion Consumption

PurposeThis study seeks to investigate the influence of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), of the conscious consumption intention and of the consumer ethical considerations, on Slow Fashion Consumption in the region known as Agreste Pernambucano, in Brazil, which is known for being an apparel manufacturing area.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this purpose, descriptive quantitative research using non-probabilistic sampling was conducted. Data were collected through an online survey and distributed through the snowball technique. The sample consists of 486 respondents and relies on structural equation modeling for data analysis.FindingsThe results highlight that the Slow Fashion Consumption, in the scope of Local Productive Arrangement (LPA) of clothing manufacturing in the Agreste region, is influenced by the intention of conscious consumption, the ethical considerations in consumer behavior and the perceived behavioral control. Moreover, the results highlight the role of the influence of subjective norms both in the attitudes of consumers and the intention of conscious consumption.Originality/valueThe primary contribution of this study is to demonstrate that perceived behavioral control is positively associated with Slow Fashion Consumption, which, in turn, shows that respondents believe they have control over their sustainable actions.

On the Effect of Employer Offered Leave of Work on Participation in Continuing Vocational Education and Training – Investigating the Intention-Behavior Relation

The availability of time is a deciding factor for participation of adults in continuing vocational education and training (CVET). In view of the importance of time for participation, the present study investigates the impact of employer offered leave of work on employees’ participation behavior in CVET. Leave of work provides a specific timeframe for CVET by enabling the use of working time as learning time. The rationale of the intention-behavior relation as theorized by the theory of planned behavior provides the theoretical framework for the study. The theory allows the integration of individual and contextual factors (e.g., the work environment) in explaining individual behavior and the underpinning decision-making process. The theory conceptualizes time as an element of behavioral control that is required to act on an intention. Behavioral control is theorized to moderate the intention-behavior relation. Two modes of behavioral control are distinguished. We use employer offered leave of work as a proxy for actual behavioral control and the degree of perceived behavioral control regarding the availability of temporal resources to participate in CVET to investigate the theorized moderating role of behavior control on the intention-behavior relation. To test the hypotheses, two waves of panel data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) are used. Aiming at causal inferences, hybrid logit models are employed. We find that a participation intention is a significant predictor of CVET participation. However, the results provide no evidence regarding the theorized moderating role of actual behavioral control in terms of an employer offered leave of work on the intention-behavior relation. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that the degree of perceived behavioral control regarding the availability of temporal resources to participate in CVET does neither moderate the intention-behavior relation nor is a proxy for actual behavioral control. Finally, we discuss possible future developments of the theory of planned behavior by integrating action-theoretical assumptions from the value-expectancy theory.

Muslim Clothing Online Purchases in Indonesia during COVID-19 Crisis

Today, online Muslim clothing providers in Indonesia are faced with increasing competition in business openness. This condition requires online Muslim clothing providers to be more creative, innovative, effective and efficient by offering Muslim clothing products that are more valuable than competitors’. Therefore, a sophisticated and smart technology planning concept is needed for Muslim fashion consumers and to continue to achieve the benefits obtained by online Muslim clothing providers. This study aims to determine: (1) the influence of attitudes on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis (2) the influence of subjective norm on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis (3) the influence of perceived behavioral control on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis (4) the effect of attitudes on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis moderated by religious belief, (5) the effect of subjective norm on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis moderated by religious belief, and (6) the effect of perceived behavioral control on the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis moderated by religious belief. This study uses 1. independent variables, namely: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. 2. The dependent variable is: Purchase intention. 3. The moderating variable is: religion. The data in this study are obtained from questionnaires distributed to 762 respondents. The method used is purposive sampling to all respondents who shopped online. The method is through the LISREL 8.7 program and t-test. These results indicate that the variables of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control influence the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis. They also find that the religious belief variable can moderate the variable of attitude towards the online buying intention of Muslim clothing in Indonesia during the COVID-19 crisis but not the subjective norm and perceived behavioral control variables.

A model for examining middle school students’ STEM integration behavior in a national technology competition

Background Research on teaching and learning for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects has increased, and has demonstrated the importance of integrating interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. Our research model was based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the data were analyzed by partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The present study aims to identify factors that play an important role in students’ ability to integrate STEM knowledge and skills. Results Data were collected from participants who had won awards in local contests and represented their regions in a national technology competition. The reliability and validity of our instrument, the Students’ STEM Integration Scale, were verified. The findings demonstrated that students’ intentions to integrate STEM knowledge and skills to solve complex problems can be predicted by their attitude and perceived behavioral control. Conclusions This work highlights factors which are associated with students’ intentions to integrate interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, and serves as a reference for research on the gap between intentions and actual behavior. The findings could help teachers and instructors design STEM-based activities to enhance students’ attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and intentions, to improve their ability to integrate STEM knowledge and skills.