Validation of the Theory of planned behaviour in different cultural settings – international comparison of drunk-driving across 5 countries

Key-words. driving under the influence; alcohol; theory of planned behaviour; international survey; road safety culture

Background. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen, 1991) is a psychological model which is widely used in traffic research to predict e.g. drunk-driving (Moan & Rise, 2011; Rivis et al., 2011, Chan et al., 2010). Some studies question its validity in cross-cultural application especially in developing countries (Nordfjærn et al., 2011).

Objectives. The objective of the present study is to validate the TPB model in different cultural settings. The study is based on the results of a spin-off of ESRA (E-Survey of Road users’ Attitudes; Meesmann et al., 2018) in 2017. It investigates cross-cultural differences in self-declared drunk-driving and related behaviour determinants (TPB), such as social norms, attitudes, self-efficacy and habits in Austria, Brazil, Canada, India, Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Methods. In each county a representative sample of the national adult population (N=500) was requested to complete an online survey. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association between the behaviour determinants and self-declared drunk-driving. The models were fitted on the whole sample and the national samples separately.
Results. The results show that unsafe road safety attitudes, personal and perceived acceptability of drunk-driving, a low self-efficacy to control drunk-driving, unsafe intention and habits were significantly associated with self-declared drunk-driving. The linear regression models of drunk-driving explained a satisfactory amount of variance in all countries but was lower in Nigeria (R2 Nigeria .48 all other countries >.61).
Conclusions. The results of this study support the validity of the TPB model in these cross-cultural settings. The intention is to elaborate this investigation to the 32 countries of the ESRA2 survey, which will be conducted in November 2018.