Involvement and Need for Cognition as Moderators of Beliefs-Attitude-Intention Consistency

Surveyed 2,439 residents of The Netherlands to examine moderating effects of involvement and need for cognition in the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward large-scale use of nuclear energy and large-scale use of coal in the production of electricity. Using moderated multiple regression analyses, moderating effects of both factors were detected in the attitude-intention relationships for both issues. A moderating role of involvement was also found in beliefs-attitude relationships. Results indirectly support an explanation of such moderating effects in terms of cognitive effort spent by an individual in forming or changing attitudes.