Knowledge of declared behaviour : effect of attitude and intention

Human behaviour is challenging to explain, and testing times like COVID-19 add another layer of complexity. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the current paper traces a path model to understand how declared behaviour was impacted during the pandemic in Germany and Sweden. This study applies response time testing (RTT), which reduces the cognitive biases of self-reporting-based surveys. Results show that attitude and intentions form central elements impacting declared behaviour. Perceived threat has a high impact on declared behaviour, both directly and indirectly via attitude. Thus, political decision-makers need to take attitude into account when designing effective communication to influence behaviour.