C OMENTARIOS FINALES

Study 2b addressed five hypotheses posed earlier in this chapter. In particular, similar to Study 2a in Australia, Study 2b tested the applicability of an extended TPB in understanding drivers’ intentions to comply with the SZSL in Malaysia. This study also assessed drivers’ critical beliefs and the effect of situational factors on Malaysian drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL. The following section discusses the results and their implications for road safety interventions as well as some methodological considerations.

7.3.1 Support for the TPB

The present study was based upon the TPB, and incorporated measures of habit and mindfulness in order to explore the psychosocial factors which influence drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL. The results of this study provided support for the application of the TPB to drivers’ intended compliance with the SZSL in Malaysia. In particular, attitude, subjective norm, and PBC were all significant predictors of intention and, together, accounted for a significant 47% of the variance in drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL. These results are in line with previous TPB research that focused on complying with a speed limit (e.g., Elliot & Armitage, 2003; Elliot et al., 2007; Warner et al., 2009). This prior research has also found the TPB to explain between 48% and 85% of the variance in intention relating to these behaviours. Thus, Study 2b findings supported Hypothesis 1. With regard to the additional constructs of mindfulness and habit, only habit was found to

be a significant predictor of intention (i.e., β of .17). The results indicated attitude, subjective norm, PBC and habit significantly predicted intention to comply with the SZSL. In particular, the overall model explained 51% of the variance in intention to comply, with habit explaining a further 4% of the variance on intention to comply with the SZSL, thus Hypothesis 2 was partially supported.

While previous studies (e.g., (e.g., Armitage & Conner, 2001; Forward, 2009b) and Study 2a in Australia have found subjective norm to be the weakest predictor in the TPB, the current study, Study 2b found that subjective norm was a significant predictor of intention with β=.17, p<.05. The latter finding could be attributable to the individualist/collectivist dimension of culture, noted in the previous chapter. In collectivist cultures, people usually consider the needs and perceptions of the group to be more important than the needs and perception of individuals (Triandis, 1999). Most Asian countries including Malaysia are considered to be collectivist. In relation to school zones, Malaysian drivers may tend to make decisions based on their

perceptions of what significant others believe about socially responsible compliance behaviour, therefore increasing the influence of subjective norms on intended compliance.

Figure 7-1 Summary of the application of the extended TPB in predicting intention to comply with the SZSL in Malaysia

As mentioned before, of habit and mindfulness only habit emerged as a significant predictor of intention to comply. It should be noted that the Study 2b did not use past behaviour to operationalise habit, as has been done in other research (e.g., Danner, et al., 2008). Instead this study applied the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI) devised by Verplanken and Orbell (2003). The result was in line with other habit-related

research where habit influenced intention to perform a behaviour (e.g., Gardner, et al., 2011), thus suggesting that the SRHI is a useful scale that could be used in future road safety-related research. Given that this study did not analyse actual compliance with the SZSL and the moderating effect of habit and mindfulness on intention- behaviour relationship (due to the low response for the Time 2 survey), the elements of Hypothesis 1 relating to actual compliance and Hypothesis 3 relating to

moderating variableswere not addressed.

7.3.2 Other factors that influence drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL

In relation to the beliefs analysis, Malaysian drivers’ beliefs that keeping school children safe and presence of a crossing supervisor were more likely to influence their intention to comply with the SZSL. In addition, Malaysian drivers also believed that they would be able to comply with the SZSL when they knew it was a school day, saw school zones signage and saw school children and

motorcyclists in the area. Together, these six beliefs accounted for 60% of the variance in intention of compliance with the SZSL which is in accordance with a previous study on drivers’ compliance with speed limits (Elliott, et al., 2005). The findings suggest that Malaysian drivers may require more visible and noticeable school zones to facilitate their compliance with the SZSL.

The scenario-based analysis indicated that Malaysian drivers’ intentions to comply with the SZSL would be greater in the presence of school children than in their absence, thus supporting Hypothesis 4. Study 2b’s finding were also consistent with a previous study on drivers’ behaviour in school zones (Ash & Saito, 2007). Ash and Saito found that drivers were more likely to exceed speed limit by 10mph (16km/h) in the absence of school children. The results are also in line with the critical beliefs analysis mentioned above. One of the critical beliefs identified was presence of school children in the school zone. As such, collectively, Study 2b suggested that Malaysian drivers require more visual cues to facilitate their compliance with the SZSL.

Table 7-12 Summary of the Study 2b findings addressing the hypotheses

Hypotheses Results H1 The standard TPB variables will significantly and positively predict

intention to comply and actual compliance with the SZSL in

Malaysia, such that more favourable attitudes, subjective norms and PBC will predict an increased intention to comply.

Supported :

Significant predictor: - Attitude - Subjective norm - PBC

H2 Habit and mindfulness will contribute additional explanatory value,

such that higher scores on mindfulness and habit of compliance will predict an increased intention to comply with the SZSL, over and above the standard TPB constructs.

Partially supported. Significant predictor:

- Habit H4 The presence of school children in school zones will be associated

with greater intention to comply with the SZSL. Specifically, there will be a main effect relating to school children such that the presence of school children in the school zone area will be associated with higher intention to comply.

Supported

H5 The presence of other drivers speeding in school zones will be

associated with lack of compliance with the SZSL. In particular, there will be a main of effect of other drivers’ speeding such that the presence of other drivers’ speeding in the school zone area will be associated with less intention to comply.

Not supported

H6 There will be an interaction between school children and other

drivers speeding in school zones, such that the absence of other drivers speeding together with the presence of school children will result in higher intention to comply than any other combination of these variables.

Not supported

7.3.3 Implications of the research

The findings provide support for the utility of an extended TPB model in predicting intention to comply with the SZSL, more specifically, all of the TPB variables (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and PBC) as well as the additional variable of habit were found to significantly predict drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL in Malaysia. Thus, based on the findings of Study 2b, road safety

interventions, such as advertising or public education strategies, may be most successful if they focus on individuals’ attitude, subjective norm and PBC. For instance, strategies could benefit from reinforcing the positive consequences

associated with complying with the SZSL, heightening the perception that a range of referents would approve of this behaviour, and emphasizing that compliance

behaviour could be performed easily. This could be done through public education campaigns. In addition, given that habit also emerged as a significant predictor of intention, road safety campaigns could promote positive driving behaviour in terms

of compliance with the SZSL (e.g., advantages of compliance with the SZSL) In addition, enforcement could be a beneficial strategy for fostering individuals’ habit of compliance with the speed limit.

7.3.4 Strengths of the study

One of the strengths of the study is that it provides a basis for strategies to improve compliance with the SZSL. In particular, necessary strategies to improve compliance may include road safety education campaigns and more effective traffic control devices. Road safety education campaigns should highlight the reasons for complying with the SZSL as well as building on existing beliefs in the need to ensure safety of school children. The results also suggest the need to increase the visibility of school zones with the use of more noticeable traffic control devices, such as flashing lights. In addition, the presence of crossing supervisors could improve drivers’ compliance as it increases the visibility of school zones.

In relation to situational factors, Study 2b provided empirical evidence that presence and absence of school children influences driver behaviour in school zones.

Specifically, the presence of school children is more likely to increase Malaysian drivers’ intention to comply with the SZSL. It would be worthwhile for the future research to further examine the influence of child pedestrians and other drivers’ behaviour in different setting or contexts (e.g., playground, residential area) and on different types of road users (e.g., motorcyclists).

7.3.5 Limitations and future research directions

Despite support for the TPB, there are a number of limitations of Study 2b that warrant consideration. The most important of these is that the present study

measured intention but not behaviour. A meta-analysis of TPB studies demonstrated that, on average, intentions accounted for 27% of the variance in behaviour

(Armitage & Conner, 2001). Such evidence suggests that while intentions are likely to be a good predictor of future compliance behaviour with the SZSL, they are not perfect predictors. Therefore, future research is needed to measure behaviour as well as intentions when assessing the utility of the TPB to predict drivers’ compliance with the SZSL. A second limitation of the study is the sample size, particularly in relation to Time 2 survey. Replication of this study could be considered in the future.

Finally, the data were based solely on self-reports of intention. Therefore, there is the possibility that respondents made socially acceptable responses. However, the

respondents completed the questionnaires anonymously and could not gain anything by giving biased responses.