Perceived control over performance of a behaviour can account for consider- able variance in intentions and actions. However, ambiguities surrounding the concept of perceived behavioural control have tended to create uncertainties and to impede progress. The present article attempted to clarify conceptual ambiguities and resolve issues related to the operationalisation of perceived behavioural control. Recent research has demonstrated that the overarching concept of perceived behavioural control, as commonly assessed, is comprised of two components: self-efficacy (dealing largely with the ease or difficulty of performing a behaviour) and controllability (the extent to which performance is up to the actor). Contrary to a widely accepted view, it was argued that self-efficacy expectations do not necessarily correspond to beliefs about internal control factors, and that controllability expectations have no necessary basis in the perceived operation of external factors. Instead, it was suggested that self-efficacy and controllability may both reflect beliefs about the presence of internal as well as external factors. Rather than making a priori assumptions about the internal or external locus of self-efficacy and controllability, this issue is best treated as an empirical question. Also of theoretical significance, the present article tried to dispel the notion that self-efficacy and controllability are incompatible with, or independent of, each other. Although factor analyses of perceived behavioural control items provide clear and consistent evidence for the distinction, there is sufficient commonality between self-efficacy and controllability to suggest a two-level hierarchical model. In this model, perceived behavioural control is the overarching, superordinate construct that is comprised of two lower-level components: self-efficacy and controllability. This view of the control component in the theory of planned behaviour implies that measures of perceived behavioural control should contain items that assess self-efficacy as well as controllability. Depending on the purpose of the investigation, a decision can be made to aggregate over all items, treating perceived behavioural control as a unitary factor, or to distinguish between self-efficacy and controllability by entering separate indices into the prediction equation. (Author/publisher)
Abstract