Investment decisions and the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

Three studies of application for shares in privatised British industries are reported. Study 1 was on the regional electricity companies, Study 2 was on the electricity generating companies and Study 3 was on the second tranche of shares in British Telecom. The studies applied Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour. In each case the application for shares was accurately predicted by measured intention. Intention was in turn explained by attitude, subjective norm, perceived control and past behaviour. At a more specific level the research demonstrated the strong influence of friends and relatives and the importance of easy access to funds as well as the financial criteria of profit and security of investment. The research was used to test aspects of planned behaviour theory and two matters were considered in detail. The first matter was the conditions under which a measure of perceived control improved on the prediction of behaviour obtained from intention alone. The second matter was the association between product sum variables and globally measured variables; in the theory these are equated but rather low correlations are often found.