Understanding and predicting consumer behavior has always been so fascinating to marketers. There have been many models and theories proposed to predict human behavior, and one of them which has held its ground is the Theory of Planned Behavior.
The Theory of Planned Behavior is studied by marketers to predict human actions and tweak them with our marketing activities. Three factors make up for the intentions.
- Attitudes:
These are formed by a person’s belief of what would be the actual outcome of their behavior. These are usually perceived to be either favorable or unfavorable.
2.Subjective Norms:
This factor is solely impacted by a person’s friends, family and society. If people around a person prefer a certain behavior like a family member telling a person to stop smoking, they will think for such behavior.
3.Perceived Behavior Control:
These control factors are perceived by the individual over an action. The more people are confident about their choice it becomes easier for them to carry out the action. Marketers can increase the likeability of the desirable action by making it easier for people, it can be done by increasing their confidence in their actions.
All these are the components of Intention, these factors are assigned weights and then we can come up with the conclusion that increasing which one will make most sense and will ultimately lead to the desired bahavior.
TPB can be applied to various issues like political, social, or health apart from marketing and it has proven to be a successful predictor in these cases. However, the one limitation of TPB is that it grants no value to emotion, so as marketers while using TPB for a marketing decision we must create communication with some elements of desired emotions. This is why marketing is both art and science.