Policy and Complex Systems
Figure 2 . Conceptual model of consumer behavior system ( Jager , Janssen , & Vlek , 1999 ).
tem . As many individuals go through this process , the Response system assesses the collective impact of behavioral actions and attempts to influence future behaviors to either change or continue in a manner that produces a favorable response . Figure 2 illustrates the closed-loop , iterative nature of this system .
At the core of the conceptual model is the individual ’ s State system and Jager et al . ( 1999 ) employ two theoretical dimensions of cognitive processing in this system . The first is the degree to which an individual needs to elaborate on a decision . Reasoned behavior is associated with a high need to elaborate , while automatic behaviors are associated with lower needs to elaborate . The second dimension they use is the degree to which the cognitive process is social versus individually oriented . That is , social processing is more likely to be used when a behavioral action is visible to the public and the individual has a high degree of uncertainty about the outcomes or consequences of an action . Conversely , if the individual is certain about the consequences and the behavioral action is more private in nature , the individual will likely make a decision with less input from one ’ s social network .
These two dimensions are assumed to be orthogonal and the intersection of the two produces four quadrants of decision-making as depicted in Figure 3 . When an individual has a high need for cognitive elaboration about a behavioral action and she feels certain about the outcomes associated with the behavior , she is more likely to be individually oriented and is said to be deliberative . If one is uncertain about the outcomes associated with the behavior then one is more likely to be socially oriented and said to be social comparative . On the other hand , when the individual has a low need for cognitive elaboration about a behavioral action , the decision is more automatic . If one is certain about the outcomes , one is said to be repeating the behavior and if one is uncertain about the outcomes one is said to be imitative .
As discussed , the TPB has been employed to predict behavioral action based on the assessment of behavioral intent in a
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