The Intention–Behavior Gap

Abstract

Bitter personal experience and meta-analysis converge on the conclusion that people do not always do the things that they intend to do. This paper synthesizes research on intention- The Intention-Behavior GapGoal intentions are people's self-instructions to achieve desired outcomes (e.g., "I intend to finish this paper before I die!"; Triandis, 1980) and behavioral intentions are self-instructions to perform particular actions directed towards attaining these outcomes (e.g., "I intend to spend Monday morning working on this paper!"). Intentions capture both the level of the set goal or behavior (e.g., the number of hours that the person intends to spend working on their paper), and the person's level of commitment (e.g., how determined they are to devote that number of hours to working on the paper). Although most behavior is habitual or involves responses that are triggered automatically by situational cues (e.g., Bargh, 2006;Wood & Neal, 2007), forming intentions can be crucial for securing long-term goals (Baumeister & Bargh, 2014;Kuhl & Quirin, 2011). The concept of intention has thus proved invaluable for researchers concerned with behavior change, and interventions designed to promote public health, energy conservation, and educational and organizational outcomes generally rely on frameworks that construe intentions as a key determinant of behavior change (e.g., Ajzen, 1991;Bandura, 1996;Locke & Latham, 1992;Rogers, 1983).Numerous correlational studies indicate that intentions predict behavior. For instance, Sheeran (2002) meta-analyzed 10 previous meta-analysis (422 studies in total) and found a 'large' sample-weighted average correlation between intentions measured at one time-point and measures of behavior taken at a subsequent time-point (r + = 0.53). Moreover, intention offers superior prediction of behavior in correlational tests compared to other cognitions including (explicit and implicit) attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, and perceptions of risk and severity (e.g., McEachan et al., 2011; Sheeran, Harris, & Epton, 2014; Sheeran et al., in press) as well as personality factors (e.g., Chiaburu et al., 2011;Poropat, 2009;Rhodes & Smith, 2006). These findings would seem to suggest that forming an intention to change is vital if people are to initiate new behaviors or to alter courses of action that are no longer seen as desirable. The Intention-Behavior Gap: The Proverbial 'Road to Hell' is Well PavedHow well a variable predicts behavior in correlational studies does not indicate how much change in behavior accrues from manipulating that variable, however (Sheeran, Klein, & Rothman, in press). A meta-analysis of experiments that manipulated intention showed that a medium-to-large-sized change in intentions led to only a small-to-medium-sized change in behavior (d + = .36; Webb & Sheeran, 2006; see also Rhodes & Dickau, 2012). Findings from statistical simulations also converge on the conclusion that changing intentions does not guarantee behavior change (Fife-Schaw, Sheeran, & Norman, 2007)...

I’m still standing: A longitudinal study on the effect of a default nudge

“…that colleagues would see them as show-offs; De Cocker et al, 2015). The so-called intention-behaviour gap is a phenomenon that is frequently observed in health behaviour (Sheeran, 2002;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). People often have intentions to perform a certain health behaviour but fail to do so in the face of obstacles, in this case sitting down is easier than overcoming the perceived barriers.…”

“…Altering the environment in such a way that the intended behaviour is acted upon almost automatically is one way to overcome this intention-behaviour gap (Sheeran, 2002;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Adapting the environment to steer people towards the healthy option, without forbidding alternative options or changing economic incentives is referred to as nudging (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008).…”

Right Here, Right Now: Situated Interventions to Change Consumer Habits

“…Indeed, evidence of this socalled 'intention-behavior gap' (e.g. Rothman et al 2015;Sheeran and Webb 2016) has been reported across a range of consumer behaviors (e.g. Ji and Wood 2007;Young, Hwang, McDonald, and Oates 2016).…”

Intentions to Prevent Weight Gain in Older and Younger Adults; The Importance of Perceived Health and Appearance Consequences

“…We also explored intentions to prevent weight gain as opposed to behaviour, in line with previous work [15,38]. However, intentions do not always translate into behaviour change [41], and further studies should incorporate measures of behaviour in order to investigate how the predictors identified in this study relate to actual weight gain prevention. …”