The Level of Effort Required for Behaviour as a Moderator of the Attitude-Behaviour Relation

Used questionnaire methodology with 166 business students, assigned to high- or low-effort conditions, to test the hypothesis that the manner in which attitudes influence behavior is moderated by the level of effort required to perform a behavior. Effort needed was manipulated by varying the difficulty of getting access to the attitude object. When the behavior required substantial effort, the mediating role of intentions was strong, and attitudes had only indirect effects on behavior, consistent with the theory of reasoned action. When the behavior required little effort, however, attitudes had a significant direct effect on behavior, and the mediating role of intentions was reduced.