Search Results (384)

Background/Objectives: The rising prevalence of dietary supplement use among athletes raises concerns, given the risks associated with unnecessary or excessive use. This study evaluated the impact of a Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)-based online educational intervention, “Nutrition for Athletes”, on dietary supplement use among varsity athletes at a Canadian university. Methods: Thirty varsity athletes were randomized into intervention (n = 18) and control (n = 12) groups. The intervention was delivered online over four weeks and consisted of four units that covered topics related to sports nutrition, hydration in sports, dietary supplements, and risks associated with dietary supplement use. Dietary supplement use was measured at baseline and post-intervention using self-reported questionnaires. Results: The most commonly used supplements at baseline were vitamin D (57%), vitamin C (53%), sports drinks (50%), protein bars, powders, and shakes (43%), and whey protein (40%). Binary logistic regression revealed a reduced likelihood of dietary supplement use in the experimental group compared to the control group post intervention, but this difference was not statistically significant (OR = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.01 to 1.76, p = 0.14). There was also no significant change in the behaviour of dietary supplement use within the experimental group, when comparing baseline to post-intervention (OR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.01 to 1.11, p = 0.06). Conclusions: These findings reflect the potential existence of an intention-behaviour gap. Future interventions may benefit from incorporating strategies that address control-related barriers. Full article

Although employed women represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the investor population in emerging economies, their investment decision-making is still largely modelled through fragmented, single-determinant frameworks that treat women as a homogeneous group. This study develops and tests an integrated structural model of financial-goal-directed investment orientation among employed women, drawing together Behavioural Finance Theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and the Life-Cycle Hypothesis. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 951 employed women across the four administrative zones of Bengaluru, India, using stratified random sampling. The measurement model was validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and four competing structural specifications were estimated by maximum likelihood; the best-fitting model was selected on the basis of the corrected Akaike Information Criterion and approximate fit indices. The results indicate that risk tolerance is the strongest direct correlate of financial-goal-directed investment orientation, that confidence and self-efficacy operates as the pivotal psychological mediator linking macroeconomic perception to risk-taking, and that market sentiments are the strongest external correlate of investor confidence. Peer influence shows a theoretically important dual association, positively related to risk tolerance while negatively related to confidence. A serial mediation pathway running from market sentiments through confidence and risk tolerance to financial goals is supported. Because the design is cross-sectional, the associations are interpreted as structural relationships consistent with the proposed theoretical framework rather than as established causal effects. This study is exploratory and hypothesis-generating in character. The findings reframe financial-inclusion interventions for employed women around confidence-building rather than information provision, with implications for product design, advisory practice, and policy. Full article

Growing environmental concerns have intensified interest in sustainable packaging; however, consumer adoption of beverages with environmentally friendly packaging remains relatively low in developing markets. This study investigates the determinants of consumers’ purchase intentions toward such beverages in Central Vietnam using the extended Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), integrated with the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework. Data were collected from 475 consumers and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicate low consumer familiarity with eco-friendly packaging labels, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Green Dot Logo, and Compostable Logos, and only moderate adoption of sustainable packaging materials, with particularly low willingness to purchase beverages in fully recycled packaging. SEM findings show that attitude, perceived behavioural control, and perceived consumer effectiveness are significant direct predictors of purchase intention. Subjective norms and perceived environmental packaging knowledge show positive but marginal direct effects, whereas packaging functions have no significant direct effect. Attitude and perceived behavioural control act as key mediators. The study highlights the need to strengthen consumer awareness, improve recognition of eco-labels, and enhance social and psychological support to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly beverage packaging. Full article

Despite widespread adoption of cybersecurity awareness training (CSAT), a persistent knowledge–behaviour gap continues to undermine organisational security posture, particularly in resource-constrained and developing-country contexts. This 12-week quasi-experimental field study evaluated an AI-adaptive CSAT platform against traditional instructor-led training (ILT) across three Yemeni organisations (total N = 187; AI-Adaptive: n = 94; Control: n = 93). The system used a 4-parameter Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) engine—with interpretable guess and slip signals—as an auditable pedagogical decision layer that triggered Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)-aligned interventions. Extreme baseline imbalances (Cohen’s d > 2.0), at which standard ANCOVA residual adjustment alone is known to be biased and which necessitated advanced causal-inference triangulation, were addressed via a four-method protocol (ANCOVA, Propensity Score Matching, Difference-in-Differences, mixed-effects). All four methods converged on consensus effect sizes of d = 0.66–0.89. IT-verified Tier 2–3 incidents declined by 48.9% (incidence-rate ratio [IRR] = 0.51, 95% CI [0.38, 0.68]); blinded phishing click-rates fell from 8.8% to 2.1% (χ²(1) = 8.74, p = 0.003). Bootstrapped mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 4; 5000 draws) indicated that coping self-efficacy and perceived behavioural control—but not threat appraisal—were jointly associated with 66.4% of the total compliance effect. Rosenbaum bounds Γ = 2.1; E-values ≥ 3.4. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that AI-adaptive cybersecurity training produces robust, theoretically explicable benefits and that the coping-appraisal pathway, not threat salience, is the active psychological mechanism. The four-method triangulation framework offers a replicable standard for field evaluations with non-random assignment. the consensus envelope d = 0.66–0.89 is the observed range of point estimates across the four estimators; per-method 95% CIs are reported below indirect effect via coping self-efficacy = 0.843 [0.52, 1.19], via PBC = 0.524 [0.28, 0.81], via threat appraisal = 0.059 [−0.07, 0.21] (ns); direct effect c’ = 0.63 (p = 0.026); total effect c = 2.06 [1.58, 2.54]. Full article

This study examines the moderating role of environmental connectedness in the relationship between environmental attitude and environmental protection intention among Generation Z polytechnic students in Singapore. A cross-sectional survey across five polytechnics yielded 709 valid responses, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to assess both direct and moderating effects. Findings confirm that environmental attitude significantly and positively influences environmental protection intention. However, environmental connectedness did not moderate this relationship, suggesting that in dense urban environments, cognitive attitudes may have a stronger impact than affective ties to nature. This study offers novel insights by extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour to include emotional constructs within an Asian urban setting, highlighting how limited nature exposure may weaken the role of affective factors. While the cross-sectional design and convenience sampling limit causal inference and generalisability, the findings align with national trends, as government agencies and educational institutions have intensified efforts to cultivate environmental awareness through green curricula and co-curricular programmes. These findings indicate that interventions such as curriculum redesign and gamification aimed at shaping environmental attitudes may be more effective than strategies relying solely on emotional engagement with nature, thereby supporting Singapore’s climate goals and fostering responsible urban citizenship. Full article

Cultured meat is proposed as a sustainable protein alternative, yet consumer acceptance remains one of the principal barriers to its commercialisation, and the evidence base remains overwhelmingly Western. India—the world’s most populous nation, characterised by dietary pluralism and the principle of ahimsa—remains understudied. Using a cross-sectional online survey, this study applied an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour to identify psychological predictors of the intention to try cultured meat among English-speaking Indian consumers (N = 255), employing latent-variable structural equation modelling with a robustness check for common-method variance. Perceived behavioural control was the strongest predictor of intention (β = 0.609, p < 0.001), followed by attitude (β = 0.295) and subjective norms (β = 0.263, sensitive to method variance); however, dominance decomposition attributed the largest share of explained variance to subjective norms. Ethical concern for animal welfare was the strongest predictor of attitude (β = 0.487), while disgust was a significant negative predictor (β = −0.272); perceived unnaturalness, health concern, and dietary-group differences were non-significant. The model explained 69.9% of the variance in intention. Acceptance reflected perceived feasibility and ethical concern for animal welfare rather than perceived unnaturalness, diverging from Western evidence and carrying implications for marketing and certification strategies. Full article

Traffic engineering aims to control infrastructure and population behaviour to achieve optimal usage of road networks. Fairness is fundamental to stimulate cooperation in large populations, and plays an important role in traffic engineering, as it increases the well-being of users, improves driving safety by rule adherence, and overcomes public resistance at legislative implementation. Despite the importance of fairness, only a few works have translated fairness into the transportation domain, with a focus on transportation planning rather than traffic engineering. Moreover, existing works in traffic engineering discuss fairness superficially and insufficiently, focussing on only a few definitions. The mission of this work is (i) to challenge narrowly specified, efficiency-oriented engineering formulations in traffic engineering, (ii) to establish a link to modern fairness theories, and (iii) to highlight the importance of fairness when allocating scarce, public good, mobility resources between road users. To achieve this, a mode-agnostic, distributive fairness framework for mobility resource allocation is proposed. It serves when designing traffic engineering solutions, and convinces in public debates with a useful, argumentative tool-set to confront equity considerations. Ultimately, this enables systematic research and design of fairness-informed control systems, demonstrated by three case studies on signalized intersection management and static road pricing. Full article

Private vehicle overreliance in Klang Valley, Malaysia contributes to severe traffic congestion, air pollution, and carbon emissions, yet public transport modal shift remains far below national policy targets. This study extends the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by incorporating two external constructs, environmental concern (EC) and technology adoption (TA), to investigate the behavioural intention of 483 private vehicle users to switch to rail transit. Hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show that, with the exception of subjective norm ($\beta =0.064$, $p=0.180$), all constructs exert significant positive effects on behavioural intention. Technology adoption emerged as the strongest direct predictor ($\beta =0.417$), followed by perceived behaviour control ($\beta =0.340$). Environmental concern operated exclusively through indirect pathways, mediated by attitude and perceived behaviour control, and exhibited the largest effect size on the TPB components ($f^2$ = 0.380–0.449, large effect). Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven fraud detection systems in FinTech ecosystems increasingly face a governance tension between high predictive accuracy and limited regulatory transparency, a gap that existing reviews have not addressed through an integrated behavioural, technical, and institutional lens. This study synthesises 99 Scopus-indexed, ABDC-ranked journal articles (2015–2026) using PRISMA 2020 and the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, integrating the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) within an Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes (ADO) framework to examine organisational adoption of explainable AI (XAI) in financial fraud detection. Three antecedent clusters are identified: attitudinal (algorithmic complexity, model opacity, data imbalance), normative (regulatory compliance, ethical expectations), and control-based (technical self-efficacy, organisational readiness)—which drive decision mechanisms including post hoc interpretability tools (SHapley Additive exPlanations [SHAP], Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations [LIME]), ethical governance protocols, and human-in-the-loop oversight. These produce outcomes across precision (reduced false positives, improved decision accuracy), compliance (audit transparency, institutional legitimacy), and cognitive (user acceptance, procedural justice) dimensions. The study introduces the Stability–Transparency–Reliability (STR) model, which advances TPB, Socio-Technical Systems Theory, and the Dynamic Capabilities View by reframing XAI from a static interpretability output into a recursive governance capability, formalised through the concept of Interpretative Agility, with direct implications for financial institutions operating under the EU AI Act. Full article

Farmers’ investment decisions can shape their capacity to implement practices consistent with sustainable development objectives. The article identifies the declarative structure of investment decisions on Polish dairy farms based on a survey and diverse theoretical frameworks (resource-based view, institutional approach, real options theory, behavioural theory, and the theory of planned behaviour). The purpose is to identify the determinants of the extent and structure of declared agricultural investments. The authors determined the relationships between declared investments and groups of variables and identified investment axes and interdependencies. Investment decision predictions are founded on logistic regression, an SEM model for relationship structuring, and residual correlation analysis for mapping relationships and evaluating the correlation demasking effect, according to which raw correlations between investment axes may hide underlying residual associations between them. We found that declared farmland investments were associated with milk production volume and appeared to be linked to long-term farm development objectives. The respondents became less keen on investing in livestock production as they aged, whereas older farmers showed a greater propensity to undertake energy-related investments. These results suggest that farmers’ declared investment intentions may be consistent with conditions conducive to achieving sustainable development objectives through their potential association with farm viability, resource-use efficiency, and rural economic development. Our findings may have potential policy relevance by informing the design of public measures aimed at strengthening farms’ adaptive capacity in the context of sustainability transitions. Full article

This study examines how two forms of financial literacy—objective financial literacy (OFL; demonstrated knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and diversification) and perceived financial literacy (PFL; self-assessed confidence in financial matters)—relate to financial wellbeing through distinct capability pathways, and whether self-regulation conditions these links. We use three nationally representative cross-sections from Portugal (2015, 2020, 2023; N = 3648), a European setting marked by declining objective literacy and constrained market participation. Guided by capability theory, we propose a dual-lane model in which OFL operates through behavioural capability (BC; enacted saving, investing, and planning behaviours) to shape objective financial wellbeing (OFW; resilience, assets, and saving), while PFL operates through perceived capability (PC; financial self-efficacy and perceived control) to shape subjective financial wellbeing (SFW; perceived security, satisfaction, and freedom from financial stress). We also test whether non-impulsive, future-oriented behaviour (NIB) strengthens the associations along the objective lane. Structural equation models provide partial support for the dual-lane model, revealing three asymmetries with implications for European policy: (1) the link between behavioural capability and objective financial wellbeing weakens in 2023, suggesting that macroeconomic conditions can undercut even prudent financial behaviour; (2) perceived financial literacy directly predicts subjective financial wellbeing, but perceived capability does not mediate this association, indicating that financial confidence shapes wellbeing independently of self-efficacy; and (3) non-impulsive, future-oriented behaviour amplifies the association between objective literacy and objective wellbeing in 2015 and 2023 but not in 2020, showing that the benefits of self-regulation are context-dependent. The findings inform financial education and policy across Europe by distinguishing intervention levers for objective versus subjective outcomes and identifying conditions under which behavioural interventions are most effective. Full article

Sustainable food consumption is a key domain of sustainability education, yet lower secondary students’ dietary choices are shaped by evaluations, perceived feasibility, social expectations, family routines, and human–nature relationships. This study examined sustainable dietary intentions among 197 Austrian students aged 12 to 15 using an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour framework, including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, nature relatedness, and environmental concern. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and path analysis were used. Students reported moderately high sustainable dietary intentions, favourable attitudes, and relatively high perceived behavioural control, whereas subjective norm was weaker and centred mainly on family expectations. Nature-relatedness showed coherent positive associations with intention, attitude, and perceived behavioural control. Environmental concern was positively associated with the TPB components but showed a more selective pattern. The extended path model explained 41.3% of the variance in intention to eat sustainably. Perceived behavioural control and attitude were the strongest correlates of intention. Nature relatedness was associated with the TPB components and retained a small direct association with intention, whereas environmental concern was not directly associated with intention. The findings suggest that perceived feasibility and nature relatedness are relevant correlates of sustainable dietary intentions in lower secondary education. Full article

This study examines the relationship between health consciousness, the components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and self-identity, as well as consumers’ willingness to pay more for Andean grains, which are recognised for their nutritional benefits and contribution to sustainable food systems. The study was conducted with 600 young university students living in Lima, Peru. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), the findings revealed a positive association between health consciousness and attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and self-identity related to healthy food consumption. Of the TPB components, self-identity was found to be the strongest predictor of willingness to pay more for Andean grains, followed by perceived behavioural control; attitude and subjective norms, however, showed no significant effect. These results suggest that the willingness to pay for sustainable heritage foods is driven more by identity-based motivations and perceived access conditions than by favourable evaluations or social pressure alone. The study extends the TPB by incorporating health consciousness as an antecedent variable and by highlighting the prominent role of self-identity in sustainable food choices within the context of an emerging economy. Furthermore, the findings provide practical insights for designing marketing strategies and public policies aimed at promoting healthy and sustainable food consumption. Full article

This study examines how the relationship between perceived financial accounting disclosures (FAD) and investor reactions to negative financial news (IRNFN) is conditioned by two individual-level moderators among 310 retail investors holding shares in project-based organisations (PBOs) listed on the Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The two moderators are framing bias susceptibility, a cognitive predisposition to be influenced by presentational form, and AI channel reliance (AICR), the extent to which investors rely on AI-mediated information channels—including algorithmic news aggregators, robo-advisory tools, AI-curated social media feeds, and automated sentiment-scored financial alerts—for receiving and interpreting corporate disclosures. Drawing on Behavioural Finance Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the study investigates whether the strength of the FAD–IRNFN association depends on these cognitive and informational processing conditions. The measurement model was estimated using confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS 25, and the moderation hypotheses were tested through path analysis with mean-centred composite scores and bias-corrected bootstrap inference, with a latent interaction robustness check reported in parallel. AI channel reliance emerged as a substantial moderator of the FAD–IRNFN relationship, while framing bias provided a smaller, marginally significant moderating effect. The findings are consistent with the theoretical expectation that, in AI-mediated information environments, the perceived quality and presentation of complex disclosures are associated with stronger, rather than weaker, investor reactions to negative news. Because the design is cross-sectional and based on self-reported data, the results are interpreted as associations rather than causal effects, with implications for disclosure regulation, corporate communication, and AI platform design in the UAE and comparable emerging markets. Full article

The ethical dimensions of sustainability can be overlooked by academics and project professionals despite ethics being relevant to the achievement of United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A survey of United Kingdom (UK)’s construction industry leaders is used to identify ethical challenges and solutions, while highlighting the link between sustainability, ethics and individual behaviour. A Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) approach is employed to scope out a series of ethical scenarios via an analysis of people, work tasks, culture and training, and subsequently validated via an industry workshop. It is argued that while project tools and techniques fail to engage adequately with ethical issues (e.g., stakeholder management), a proactive examination of attitude, norm, control and intention by project managers at appropriate project times can assist with the identification of potential ethical issues: a TPB-based prompt sheet being presented to assist project managers with their ethics work. The paper makes an original contribution that highlights the relationship between sustainability, ethical working practices and UN SDGs. Despite the relevance of ethics to SDGs, no prior study has used TPB to model ethical scenarios in construction project management. Full article