Casonas solariegas de los siglos XVI al XVIII

Methodology

These constructs are based on Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991). Intention relates to the individual’s willingness or perceived likelihood to perform the behaviour. Attitude is the

individual’s positive or negative evaluation of the consequences of a behaviour. A positive attitude leads to a higher likelihood of

performing the behaviour. Subjective Norm can be defined as the individual’s concern about other people’s expectations (people important to the person) about the person engaging in a behaviour. This means the individual’s perception of whether their significant others think they should or should not perform the behaviour.

Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) is the individual’s perception of their confidence and ability to perform the behaviour. Past behaviour is an additional construct utilized, and its importance was stated in the literature review in Chapter Two. For instance, Bamberg et al. (2003) highlighted that analysing past behaviour may improve predictions of later behaviour and can express habit strength. Statements were used based on the suggestions in Ajzen’s (2002) work and on items used in previous in research. To measure

intention, social norms, and PBC, participants were asked to indicate their degree of agreement with the statements on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Attitudes were measured with semantic differentials using 5-point bipolar adjective scales. The last construct of past behaviour was measured with a Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always).

To measure behavioural intention three items were used to evaluate the generalized intention as suggested by Francis et al. (2004). The authors demonstrated that using three items adequate internal consistency was achieved. Based on them, this study used three items utilizing three different words (expect, want and intend) that could function as general indication of intention. Because it is the general intention that is measured, the three questions have the same structure. It was set the time frame to measure intention as “cycling next week” because we are referring at a behaviour (cycling commuting) to be carried out in the short term.

According to Ajzen (2002), attitudes are composed by the beliefs and the evaluation of the behaviour. Because in this study, the researcher was interested in predict intention to commute by bicycle, as Ajzen (2002) suggested, there were used only direct measures for the evaluation of attitudes. The direct measures were built with

evaluative semantic differentials (SD) that may reflect the different possible evaluations of performing that behaviour. The steam or the behaviour to evaluate was ‘For someone that travels for less than 8

km, to choose commute by bicycle is’, and the extreme positive was

at the left side and the extreme negative was on the right side. In the pilot study there were tested different adjectives, however, when these were analysed for internal consistency, some of these items were not helpful, thus deleting some of them improved the

consistency of attitudes as a construct. The final number of adjectives to evaluate attitudes were four.

Subjective norm, was measured with two kind of statements. First, the statements formulated to explore Injunctive Normative Beliefs and Motivation to Comply. The statements were formulated using “Other people in general expect” and “social pressure” because these items measure the strength of the Injunctive Normative Beliefs using as injunctive normative referent group other people, in this case, people that the individual observes, over the individuals’ decision to cycle commute or for not using the bicycle. Second, the statements formulated to explore Descriptive Normative Belief and

Identification with Referent Group. This statement was formulated using “People that are important to me” because this item measures the strength of the Descriptive Normative Belief using as descriptive normative referent group people that matters for the individual. PBC is formed by the Control beliefs. And refers to the individual’s beliefs about the capability of cycle commuting. Therefore this item was measured by asking a question to evaluate the individual’s perception of control over engaging into cycling. It was used one item because in the pilot study it was identified that more items did not improve the internal consistency, thus to make PBC less ambiguous for the respondents the measure was narrowed to a single-item (Wanous et al., 1997). In section 4.5 in this chapter, there are further details about the Pilot Study.

Past behaviour was used to improve predictions of future behaviour and as measure of habit strength as argued by Bamberg et al. (2003). Similarly that with PBC, it was measured by a single-item to reduce ambiguity in the survey.

Measures

Table 14 Theory of Planned Behaviour Constructs and Their Associated Question Number

Construct Question Description

Intention Q21a. I expect to use my bike for my daily commute in the next week

Q21b. I want to use my bike for my daily commute in the next week

Q21c. I intend to use my bike for my daily commute in the next week

Subjective norm

Q21d. Other people in general expect me not to commute by bicycle

Q21e. I feel under social pressure to use a certain mode of transport to commute

Q21f. People who are important to me want me to commute by bicycle

PBC Q21g. I am confident that I can use

my bicycle to commute

Attitudes Q22 For an individual who daily covers a distance of less than 8 km, to choose to use the bicycle to commute is: Q22a. Important – Not important Q22b. Beneficial – Harmful Q22c Enjoyable – Unenjoyable

Q22d Good – Bad

Past behaviour

Q24 How frequently you have used a bicycle to commute in the last six months

3.5.2.2 Social Comparison Orientation and Feelings from Social