Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 23, Issue 2, March–April 1998, Pages 225-237
Addictive Behaviors

The applicability of the theory of planned behavior to the intention to quit smoking across workplaces in southern taiwan

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(97)00045-2Get rights and content

Abstract

An examination of the applicability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to the intention to quit smoking across workplaces was conducted. Subjects were randomly selected from three workplaces in southern Taiwan. Those from a large public steel-manufacturing company were used for model building, and those from two private auto-parts-manufacturing companies served to cross-validate the model. Eligible subjects were divided into three study samples: a learning sample and two test samples. Three predictors—priority of quitting, past behavior (measured as previous quit attempt), and habit (measured as nicotine dependence)—were added to the TPB model. The results of this study show that TPB based on the learning sample fit well in another sample from the same workplace but poorly in other workplaces. When priority of quitting and past behavior were added to the TPB model, prediction to other workplaces significantly improved. Habit had no significant contribution to the intention to quit in the TPB model. Detailed discussions of the results are provided.

Section snippets

Theory of planned behavior

After researching many motivational theories, the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen 1988Ajzen 1991), which is an extension of the theory of reasoned action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein 1980), was chosen as the basis to understand the intention to quit smoking in this study because it is considered the most integrated theory to explain human social behaviors (Conner & Norman 1994; Conner 1993; Weinstein 1993). According to Ajzen 1988, many behaviors are not fully under volitional control, and, to

Participants

Participants were recruited from three companies in southern Taiwan. Those from a large public steel-manufacturing company (hereafter referred to as Company A) in the city of Kaushong were used for model building, and those from two small private auto-parts-manufacturing companies (hereafter referred to as Companies B and C) in the city of Tainan served to cross-validate the model. Because the smoking prevalence of women in Taiwan is relatively low (3%; Yen, Pan, Yen, & Lee 1994), the inclusion

Study samples

The sociodemographic characteristics of the learning, the intratest, and the extratest samples are listed in Table 2. We found no difference in the distribution of sociodemographic data between the learning and intratest samples, which both came from Company A. However, the distribution of the sociodemographic data in the extratest sample, which combined the participants from Companies B and C, was significantly different from that in the learning and intratest samples. Most subjects in Company

Discussion

Cigarette smoking is one of the most serious health-related problems in Taiwanese men. This study attempted to apply the TPB to Taiwanese smokers to understand the determinants of the intention to quit smoking across workplaces. Consistent with previous TPB studies (Ajzen 1991; DeVellis, Blalock, & Sandler 1990; Godin 1993; Godin, Valois, Lepage, & Desharnais 1992), we found that TPB predicted intention better than TRA. Perceived behavioral control contributed to this prediction more

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grant NSC-83-0301-H-003-021 from the National Science Council of Taiwan. The first author thanks her dissertation committee members, Moon Chen, Catherine Heaney, and Jeptha Hostetler, for their guidance and assistance.

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