- Email: [email protected]
Application of Theory of Planned Behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry
Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Safety Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ssci
Application of Theory of Planned Behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry Elistina Abu Bakar ⇑, Nurul Syamimi Isa, Syuhaily Osman Department of Human Resources and Consumer Studies, Faculty Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 17 March 2016 Received in revised form 14 April 2017 Accepted 5 June 2017
Keywords: Safety Theory of Planned Behavior Motor vehicle repair
a b s t r a c t The objective of this paper is to examine the determinant factors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. A total of five hundred respondents were chosen through stratified random sampling. Multiple regressions were used to identify the factors that contribute to consumer safety behavior. The factors include attitude toward accident risk, social norm, perceived behavioral control and safety priorities as prescribed in the Theory of Planned Behavior. Results show that all factors can explain 39.7% variance in safety behavior of consumers and safety priorities become the main determinant factor. This research holds significant implications to government, industries and most importantly, consumers so that policy and educational programs can be proposed to inculcate good behavior among consumers especially on safety matters. Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The very substantial increase in the number of motor vehicles registration and the number of licensed drivers over the years has led to a huge demand for services provided by the motor vehicle repair and service industry in Malaysia (Malaysian Road Transport Department, 2013). However, despite the significant progress in this industry, there are concerns about consumer safety since unsatisfactory services by service providers can lead to an accident which results in personal injury or even death not only to the drivers but to other road users (Yawasi et al., 2013). Such concern surfaced and took root in the 1900s when Ralph Nader, the prominent American consumer advocate, published his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, exposing the practices and attitudes of vehicle manufacturers who ignored safety features on vehicle construction and repair, resulting in a number of deaths from car accidents that need not have occurred. In Malaysia, the issue relating to consumer safety in the motor vehicle repair and service industry is of great concern, even alarming. According to the Report issued by the Royal Malaysian Police (2013) among the various causes of road crashes in Malaysia are the drivers’ own negligence including the failure to ensure proper maintenance of their vehicles. Among the issues related to the industry is the use of non-original spare parts which definitely poses danger to consumers (Mohd Hamdan, 2005). This is ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Abu Bakar). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.06.001 0925-7535/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
supported by the statistics issued by the National Consumer Complaint Centre (NCCC) and the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCCC). According to the NCCC (2013), among the highest number of complaints lodged by consumers related to supply of goods are the supplies of non-original vehicle parts which amounted to 816 complaints from 2010 to 2013. In addition, according to the same report by the NCCC, the number of complaints received related to the whole industry in year 2013 alone totaled 4915 cases involving an estimated worth of RM22,182,476.00 (NCCC, 2013). Similarly, according to the statistics from the TCCC (2013), 583 complaints were lodged relating to the supply of non-quality spare parts and another 1019 complaints relating to the overall motor vehicle and repair industry. In addition, a study was carried out on the availability of spare parts of imported cars, which indicated that only 32% of the consumers agreed that the spare parts of imported cars were easily available whereas 68% said that the parts were not easily available (Doris et al., 2012). This problem will lead to the use of counterfeit parts due to non-availability of the original ones. Subsequently, this will lead to serious problems because according to the Motor Vehicle Owners Association of Malaysia, the majority of motorists face the risk of injury or worse consequences due to the use of counterfeit spare parts by unscrupulous workshops (Elistina and Naemah, 2011). Another safety issue in the industry is illegal vehicle modification, which the consumers and the service providers do not comply with rules as specified by the Malaysian Road Transport Division (RTD). According to the statistics from the RTD (2013), the modification of private vehicles which did not meet the specifications
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
have been increased by 1349 vehicles in 2013. Table 1 illustrates the statistics issued by RTD relating to illegal modification. Factors that contribute to the increase in cases are due to the existence of many workshops that offer these types of modification services (Royal Malaysian Police, 2013). This shows that consumers as well as workshops are getting bolder in violating the law without thinking about the consequences of their acts. This will definitely affect the safety of not only the drivers but also the passengers and other road users. Thus, it is important to study consumer safety behavior as well as the factors that contribute to this behavior. The main objective of this study is to examine factors affecting consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. However, only four factors are studied which are attitude toward accident risks, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities. 2. Literature review 2.1. Safety behavior Developing consumer behavior that lead to safety practices is very important to potray the level of capability among consumers so that they can safeguard their rights when dealing with traders as well as to prevent them from being involved in activities that will affect their safety such as illegal modification (Brue, 1999). This has been supported by Samuel and Hsiung (2016) in which safety behavior will determine the safety outcome. There are many studies which explore the issue of safety among consumers. For example, there was a study done by Redhwan and Karim (2010) with respect to road safety. This is because a positive behavior towards safety will avoid accidents. The aim of the study was to assess consumers’ safety behavior while on road by observing traffic regulations. However, most of previous studies on consumer safety behavior touch on the issue of food safety. For example, Michael et al. (2011) have adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior to view safe food handling behavior among consumers. Worsfold and Griffith (1997) have evaluated consumers’ food safety behavior according to steps in food preparation based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the consumers’ behavior in the motor vehicle repair industry and identify its determinants. 2.2. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) The Theory of Planned Behavior emerged in the 1980s, pioneered by Fishbein and Ajzen (1986). This theory is an extension of the Causal Theory of Action, which was also introduced by Fishbein and Ajzen around 1975. The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) is one of the commonest behavior theories and it has been widely adopted by researchers to predict consumers’ intention to perform that particular behavior. In this theory, two predictors of intention are: (1) attitude toward that behavior and (2) the normative component (subjective norm). In this Causal Theory of Action, the attitude component describes
Table 1 Illegal modification of private vehicles from 2012 to 2013. Source: Malaysian Road Transport Division (2013). Types of vehicles
2012
2013
Total
Motorcycle Motorcar Other private vehicles
1336 5537 786
2354 5082 1572
3690 10,619 2358
Total
7659
9008
16,667
71
evaluation of an individual’s behavior while subjective norm refers to an individual’s perception of the extent to which others are considered important for them to think that they need to behave in a certain way. The extension of this theory, namely the Theory of Planned Behavior by Fishbein and Ajzen (1986) and Ajzen (1987) suggested that the concept of perceived behavioral control will appear as an additional predictor of intention and the actual behavior of the individual. The cornerstone of the Theory of Planned Behavior is to discuss the factors that contribute to the formation of a person’s behavior. A person believes that they are likely to commit certain types of behavior if they believe that the revenue derived from the behavior is of positive value to them. Moreover, adherence to important reference sources, such as family, relatives, friends or co-workers is also a contributor to a person’s behavior. Thus, an individual is able to achieve a positive value of the practice and their behavior if they have a point of reference and are also able to perform a specific behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Clayton and Griffith, 2008). Therefore, this study has adopted this theory to predict consumer behavior related to safety in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. 2.3. The determinant factors of consumer safety behavior practices 2.3.1. Consumers’ attitude toward accident risks Past studies have shown that there is a relationship between the attitude of individuals in handling risk and their behavior to curb those risks. Subsequently, these positive attitudes toward safety can minimize any hazards including road accidents. For example, Smith and Louis (2008) in their study, emphasized how a person’s safe condition can be enhanced through positive attitudes toward safety. They found that one’s attitude to avoid any potential risk can affect an individual’s goals to increase their personal safety. There were several previous studies which had determined the correlation between attitudes toward accidents with safety practices. Among the studies are those by Sullman et al. (2002), and Parker et al. (1995) in which they arrived at the conclusion that the safety of the drivers is influenced by several factors such as the characteristics of the drivers, their attitudes, the road layout, the design of the vehicle, and also the weather. These researches placed more emphasis on human factors such as drivers’ attitudes toward traffic rules as a preventive measure to avoid accidents. These findings had also been supported by Evans (1996) and Parker et al. (1995) who also concluded that the attitude of the drivers plays an important role in traffic safety to avoid and prevent accident risks. In addition, the studies by Iversen and Rundmo (2004) and Rakauskas et al. (2007) among drivers in high-income countries revealed that the attitudes toward accident risk would have a direct impact on drivers to behave safely to prevent any possible accident. Other studies by Lund (2006) and Lund and Rundmo (2009) in Ghana had collected data among drivers in low-income countries and discovered that the attitude was not a significant predictor in influencing safe driving behavior. However, Lund and Rundmo (2009) had justified their findings by concluding that drivers in Ghana who were in low income group had a high degree of willingness to drive safely. There was a study done by Redhwan and Karim (2010) on road safety. The aim of the study was to assess consumer behavior and their attitude toward accident risks while on the road. They examined the relationship between attitudes and behavior and found that the respondents with negative attitudes toward accident risks will not abide by the traffic laws. Though previous studies had touched on the issue of safety, their area of study was mostly on the issues of food safety (Azira et al., 2012; Norrakiah and Oi, 2013), road safety (Iversen and Rundmo, 2004; Rakauskas et al., 2007; Rundmo and Moen, 2009) and safety at the workplace (Rundmo and Hale, 2003). Previous researches did not specifically
72
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
study the safety behavior of consumers when sending their vehicles for maintenance and repairing works. Thus, it is very important to determine their attitude toward accident risks if they send their vehicles to unreliable workshops as well as to identify the existence of the relationship between attitude and their behavior. 2.3.2. Subjective norms of consumers Subjective norms associated with safety, was first proposed by Perkins and Berkowitz (1986) in their study among college students. In their study, they focused on uncovering the factors affecting the formation of attitudes and behaviors due to the belief that social influences could lead to good behavior to protect their safety and to prevent any hazards. In addition, there were also previous studies that tested the correlation between subjective norms and safety behavior. For example, a study by Iversen and Rundmo (2002) among adolescents and Blanton et al. (2008) among drivers concluded that individuals with high subjective norms score were more likely to indulge in safety behavior while those with low subjective norms score would do otherwise. In addition, a study by Bjorklund and Aberg (2005) relating to drinking behavior while driving and Stasson and Fishbein (2006) on the issue of wearing safety belt had also confirmed that the subjective norm component is a very strong predictor in influencing drivers’ behavior, particularly in relation to attitudes and actions that comply with road traffic regulations. The review by Gaymard (2009) also gave the same explanation in which the subjective norms would impact driver behavior and thus become a major motivational influence and protective measure to improve compliance with road safety regulations. This review of previous researches shows that adherence to traffic rules among drivers to prevent any risk of accidents was due to the influence of important people in their life as well as society. 2.3.3. Perceived behavioral control of consumer There are several previous studies that examined the notion of drivers’ perceived behavior control on the issue of safety. For example, a study by Jackson et al. (2009) concluded that individuals who possess a high ability to control their behavior can minimize and avoid accident risks. The inexperienced drivers also have demonstrated low ability to control the outcomes and thus will respond slowly when facing any hazard. In addition, a study by Windsor et al. (2008) also found that the increase in perceived control was associated with the ability of an individual to reduce the risks associated with attitudes and behaviors that were unsafe. Thus, previous research had concluded that individuals have different levels of perceived control in the area of safety. Delhomme (2001) and SmithMcKenna (1993) had suggested that high perceived control will reduce the level of risk perception among drivers of any unsafe behavior. This is because the individual beliefs of any similar situations from the past or current experience will contribute to the perception of individuals to increase individual self-protection practices. Thus, the previous empirical studies had suggested that self-control is an important determinant in identifying the quality of human behavior. For example, Ajzen (1991) suggested that human social behavior is driven by three types of interpersonal needs, including control. This means that an individual is likely to do something that is within their control. In addition, a previous study by Proshansky et al. (1974) also claimed that in psychology and human environment, an individual tends to feel and behave in a more positive way when they have greater experience through their environment. This is because they feel that they have high ability to control the outcomes of their behavior. This has also been supported by Moen and Rundmo
(2005) in whose study the relationship between perceived behavioral control and safety behavior was confirmed. In Malaysia, a study was done by Nur Sabahiah and Satoshi (2011) which also found that perceived behavioral control of Malaysian drivers would affect their behavior in reducing risks of accidents. The drivers were more likely to observe the speed limit as well as use safety helmets as the measures to reduce risks while on the road if they felt more in control. Thus, it is assumed that the perceived behavioral control is also one predictor of consumer safety behavior while sending their vehicles to workshops for any repair and maintenance work. 2.3.4. Safety priorities Although Ajzen (1987, 1991) had applied the TPB by looking at three factors, namely, the attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, a lot of other researchers had used the TPB by adding other relevant variables. Among these were the studies by Moen and Rundmo (2005), Moen (2007) and Rundmo and Hale (1999) which added another variable, namely safety priorities. According to Rundmo and Hale (2003), safety priorities were the early reaction by an individual to refrain from engaging in any risky behavior. Safety priorities refer to the situations of how individuals give more consideration to safety in their decision making (Moen, 2007) and Rundmo and Moen (2009) reiterated in their study on safety behavior among drivers that safety priorities were closely linked to the drivers’ safety practices in avoiding risks from happening. They claimed that the professional drivers who have a higher level of safety priorities, due to their values obtained from training, will act positively to mitigate risk compared to unprofessional drivers who had a lower level of safety priorities. Lee et al. (2007) had also examined the relationship between attitude and safety priorities. Individuals’ safety priorities have been seen through the way they make their judgment about their safety and their willingness to take such risks. They found that safety priorities were strongly related to their behavior to mitigate the risks. Thus, it is interesting to determine the level of safety priorities and explore its relationship with safety behavior among consumers when they send their vehicles to workshops. Therefore, based on the above analysis of the literature, the following hypothesis is formulated: H01. Attitude toward accident risks, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities are not predictors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry.
3. Methods 3.1. Population, sample, sampling design and data collection procedure The research area in this study is the Klang Valley, which is located in the urban area of Selangor and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur in Peninsular Malaysia. Since the location is in the commercial hub of the country, it is considered to be the best research area to represent urban Malaysian consumers. This research is a cross-sectional study and the data are gathered through selfadministered questionnaire. The population comprises only Muslim consumers who have ever sent their vehicles to workshops. A stratified random sampling method was carried out to select the cities, the residential areas as well as the respondents. Five major cities around the Klang Valley were selected through simple random sampling, namely Ampang Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Cheras and Putrajaya. The number of respondents for each city was proportionately determined by the total population of that
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
area based on the statistics released by the Malaysian Department of Statistics (2010). The selection of residential areas for each of the five cities was based on information from the Municipal Council. In total, 500 respondents from 10 residential areas participated in this study. Table 2 explains the population size and number of respondents for each city. Once the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University Putra University approved the instrument and data collection procedure, the data was collected by meeting all the selected respondents at their houses. The written informed consent was obtained from all respondents before taking part in the survey. The respondents were estimated to take 20 min to complete the questionnaire and were supervised should any difficulty arise in understanding the questions. The questionnaires were also checked prior to submission to ensure missing data is set to minimum level. 3.2. Research instrument The questionnaire was designed to identify factors affecting consumer safety behavior. The questionnaire comprised three parts. The first part was designed to collect respondents’ sociodemographic related information such as gender, income, level of education, and marital status. Apart from that, the respondents were also asked the types of workshop that they went to, either workshops under manufacturer’s supervision or others. The information on whether they sent their vehicles to the same workshop every time for services or maintenance work also was gathered. Part B was on the determinants of safe behavior which included subjective norms, attitudes toward risk, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities. There were 23 statements in Part B which comprised 3 statements on subjective norms, 5 statements on attitude toward risk, 6 statements on perceived behavioral control, and another 9 statements on safety priorities. Subjective norms refers to the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior in question. The social pressure in this questionnaire refers to the important persons to the respondents who would think that they would not use counterfeit motor parts, make dangerous modifications and believe that they were safety conscious persons. Perceived behavioral control reflects a person’s perception of the ease or difficulty of implementing the behavior in question. It concerns beliefs about the presence of control factors that may facilitate or hinder their performance of the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Thus, the questions in this part concern about the ability and how easy the decisions about motor vehicle repairing and maintenance can be made by the respondents. Attitudes about accident risks refer to one’s salient belief that performing the safety behavior would lead to certain outcomes which would minimize the accident risks (Smith and Louis, 2008). Safety priorities on the other hand refers to the situations of how individuals give more consideration to safety in their decision making (Moen, 2007). It includes the items such as considering safety factor as a top priority, not willing to take any risks, speaking up if harm were to be caused and abiding by the safety laws and regulations. Multiple item scales were used to measure each variable in this study. A seven-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) was used to anchor each item in the Table 2 Population size and number of respondents. City
Population size
Total number of samples
Ampang Jaya Subang Jaya Petaling Jaya Cheras Putrajaya
126,285 708,296 613,977 244,563 68,361
36 201 174 70 19
Total
1,761,482
500
73
questionnaire. The items were adapted from Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) based on TPB and modifications were made to suit the objectives of the research. The items of safety priorities were adopted from Iversen (2004) in the study from Moen (2007) related to road traffic safety research. The coefficient alphas for reliability test ranging from 0.810 for subjective norms, 0.836 for attitude toward risk, 0.821 for perceived behavior control, and 0.871 for safety priorities. The items for consumer safety behavior were self-constructed and comprised 12 items. The scale ranged from 1 (never) to 4 (always). Safety behavior was measured according to what consumers are expected to do based on their responsibilities as consumers as prescribed under the Guidelines and Code of Ethics for motor vehicle repair and service industry in Malaysia. The items cover the expected behavior of consumers pre, during and post transaction (Blackwell et al., 2012). The consumers are expected to search for information before sending the vehicle and choose trusted and reliable workshops. During transaction, the consumers are expected not to engage in unscrupulous behavior such as making illegal modifications and using counterfeit parts while in post transaction the consumers are expected to check the rendered work and ask about the work done. The coefficient alpha reliability test for this scale is 0.836. 3.3. Analysis Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was employed to analyze data in this study. Descriptive analyses and stepwise multiple regression analysis had been utilized to determine the predictive factors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. The independent variables are the attitude toward accident risk, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control and safety priorities while the safety behavior among consumers is the dependent variable. 4. Result 4.1. Sample characteristics A total of 500 respondents participated in this study. About 19.8% of the respondents were those under the age of 28 and this group of respondents can represent the behavior of young drivers in the country. The rest were in the age group of 29–44 years (72.8%) and above 45 years (2.8%). About 60% of the respondents were female and 40% were male. In terms of income, 34.2% of the respondents had a household income of less than MYR1000 which was considered as low income group and only 15.2% of the respondents had a monthly income of more than MYR3000. Regarding the level of education, a total of 32% of the respondents were certificate/diploma holders, 29.6% were degree holders while 30.8% had attained secondary school level. Most of the respondents were single (68.2%) while the rest were married with children (31.8%). In terms of the choice of workshop, 58.8% claimed that they sent their vehicles to workshops which were not under the supervision of the manufacturers while 41.2% claimed otherwise. About slightly half of the respondents (56.8%) stated that they did not send the vehicle to the same workshop every time and only 43.2% of the respondents were loyal customers of the same workshops. The background of the respondents is presented in Table 3.1. 4.2. Subjective norms, attitudes toward accident risk and perceived behavior control Table 3.2 shows the analysis of predictive factors in consumer safety behavior. The factors are subjective norms, attitude toward accident risk, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities.
74
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
Table 3.1 Background of the respondents.
Table 3.2 Subjective norms, Attitudes toward accident risk, and perceived behavioral control.
Socio-demographic characteristics
N = 500
%
Statement
Mean
Gender Male Female
Standard deviation
200 300
40 60
Age (Year) Below 28 29–44 45 and above
99 364 14
19.8 72.8 2.8
Subjective norms People who are important to me think: I would not use counterfeit parts I would not make illegal modifications I am a safety conscious person
5.11 5.44 5.64
1.671 1.569 1.464
Mean
5.39
1.568
Attitudes toward accident risk Vehicle modifications are dangerous Using genuine parts can reduce risk Sending to a trusted workshop can reduce risk Unsafe acts are unacceptable Accident is harmful
5.69 5.57 5.67 5.45 5.88
1.585 1.538 1.497 1.802 1.538
Mean
5.65
1.585
Perceived behavioral; control I am able to decide: not to make any illegal modifications not to buy counterfeit parts. to send a vehicle to a trusted workshop
5.88 5.66 5.47
1.509 1.518 1.423
It is easy to make decision: to send a vehicle to a trusted workshop to buy original parts not to make any illegal modifications
5.53 5.47 5.45
1.649 1.641 1.667
Mean
5.48
1.567
Safety priorities Consider safety factor Not to take risk by using unsafe parts Speak up if harm caused Send a vehicle to a trusted workshop only Rebuke if the workshop violates laws Abide by safety laws Important to emphasize safety Understand the rules and laws related to safety The choice of workshop is important
5.68 5.09 5.92 5.85 5.47 5.83 5.83 5.65 5.95
1.496 2.074 1.458 1.686 1.560 1.365 1.374 1.360 1.381
Mean
5.69
1.379
Level of education Never studies Primary school Secondary school Certificate/Diploma Bachelor’s degree Master/Ph.D Others
2 12 154 160 148 18 1
0.4 2.4 30.8 32.0 29.6 3.6 0.2
Marital status Marriage Single Others
152 341 4
30.4 68.2 0.8
Total monthly income Below RM1000 RM1001-RM2000 RM2001-RM3000 More than RM3000
171 141 87 76
34.2 28.2 17.4 15.2
Types of workshop Workshop under the manufacturer Others
169 294
33.8 58.8
Send vehicles to the same workshop Yes No
197 284
39.4 56.8
The scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = ‘‘strongly agree”. By looking at the total mean score for each variable, it is shown that all variables have a mean score of above 5. This finding indicates that the respondents put high regard on subjective norms in determining their behavior (M = 5.39, SD = 1.568), have positive attitude toward accident risk (M = 5.65, SD = 1.585), have control over their behavior (M = 5.48, SD = 1.567) and prioritize safety (M = 5.69, SD = 1.379). 4.3. Consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and services Table 3.3 shows the mean value for each statement that represents safety behavior of the respondents. The items were measured according to four range scales, which were 1 = never to 4 = always. The findings showed that the highest mean value was 3.38 and standard deviation was 0.845 for the statement ‘‘I check the rendered work to ensure that it has been carried out as agreed.”, followed by the second highest total score for the statement ‘‘I got the information before agreeing to any repair work” that is M = 3:37, SD = 0.831. It was also consistent with the third highest score which was for the statement ‘‘I ask others about the workshop that I want to visit”. Nevertheless, the lowest mean score was for the statement ‘‘I choose workshop offering expensive prices because I am very convinced about the services provided” (M = 2.45, SD = 1.095). The overall total mean score for consumer safety behavior was 3.16 and SD = 0.856 which means the respondents have positive and good behavior when sending their vehicles to workshops but at moderate level. 4.4. Determinants of safety behavior Table 3.4 shows the result of stepwise regression analysis in order to determine whether the attitude towards accident risk,
Table 3.3 The consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair services. Statement
Mean
Standard deviation
Send a vehicle to the trusted workshop Buy original car parts Do not make illegal modifications
3.34 3.19 3.09
.855 .879 1.079
Ask others about the workshop Search for information about the workshop Choose expensive workshop Send a vehicle to the same workshop Looking for information on vehicle maintenance Check the rendered works Get back the old parts after replacement Ask about the repair work after the work done Send for maintenance as per schedule
3.34 3.37 2.45 3.34 3.16 3.38 2.99 3.15 3.19
0.837 0.831 1.095 0.855 0.867 0.845 0.969 0.890 0.851
Total
3.16
0.856
subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities are the predictive factors of safety behavior among consumers. This analysis is chosen since this is an exploratory study and the order of entry of the independent variables can be established by the statistical criteria produced by the stepwise procedure. This technique also allows for the later removal of variables that were previously entered (Coakes and Steed, 2007). This is also to ensure that only the significant variables are entered into the model (Diekhoff, 1992). Nevertheless, only the four studied independent variables are entered into the model. Results of the analysis show that safety priorities can explain 31.9% variance in safe behavior of
75
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76 Table 3.4 Result of multiple regressions. Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R square
df
1 2 3 4
0.565 0.611 0.625 0.630
0.319 0.373 0.391 0.397
0.318 0.370 0.387 0.392
1 2 3 4
regression regression regression regression
439 438 437 436
residual residual residual residual
F
Sig
205.734 130.177 93.568 71.869
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Note: Sig. F < 0.0001. 1. Predictors: Safety priorities. 2. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms. 3. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms, Perceived Behavioral Control. 4. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, Attitudes towards accident risks. Dependent Variable: Safety behavior.
consumers followed by subjective norms, which means both of these factors, explain 37.3% of variance as predictive factors. The whole model which comprises safety priorities, attitudes toward accident risk, subjective norms and perceived behavior al control can explain 39.7% variance in safety behavior of consumers. Thus it can be concluded that safety priorities toward accident risks can become a strong predictive factor compared to subjective norms and perceived behavior al controls. 5. Discussion The result in this study imply that the respondents have positive behavior but only at moderate level in which they will make sure that the maintenance work on their vehicles by the workshops is what they have agreed prior to the work done. In addition, the results also indicated that the respondents made efforts to search for information first about the maintenance work and the workshops that they were going to visit before sending their vehicles. This shows that the consumers took the required initiative to understand the process so that they would not be easily misled by the suppliers and made sure that the workshops were trustworthy. Relating to the determinant factors that affect behavior, the finding is consistent with previous studies which correlated safety priorities with individuals’’ practices to safeguard themselves from risks. For example, the study by Rundmo and Hale (2003) found that safety priority was an important factor for workers to take any safety measures to reduce any accident risk. Similarly, the study by Moen (2007) also found that safety priorities have a strong relationship with the consumers’ intentions as well as behavior to do something positive to guarantee their personal safety. In addition, Moen and Rundmo (2005) also found in their study that the safety priorities are closely linked with consumers’ safety practices leading to the prevention of risks from dangerous and unsafe threats. Besides, the finding also reveals that subjective norm and perceived behavioral control also contribute to safety behavior of consumers. This has been acknowledged in the literature by Bjorklund and Aberg (2005), and Lee et al. (2007), who found that the subjective norms can influence bad behavior while driving. Stasson and Fishbein (2006) also analyzed the subjective norms influence on the usage of seat belts while driving and found there was a relationship between subjective norms and the usage of seat belts. A study by Smith and Louis (2008) also indicated that subjective norms have a strong influence on the actions of individuals because their actions are determined by people who are important in their life. Similarly, on the factor of perceived behavioral control, past studies also indicated the same finding. For example, Jackson et al. (2009) explored this variable and concluded that individuals who believe that they can control the expected outcome have a higher ability to control their behavior. In addition, Windsor et al. (2008) also found that an increase in perceived control is related to the probability of an individual reducing the risks associated with attitudes and behaviors that are unsafe.
In addition, attitude is also a factor that makes a significant contribution to the model in safety behavior. For example, studies by Evans (1996) and Parker et al. (1995) reported the same conclusion that the attitude of the drivers plays an important role in traffic safety to avoid and prevent the risk of accidents on the road. Similarly, the study by Iversen (2004) which used a sample of drivers in high-income countries also revealed that attitudes toward accident risk directly impacted drivers’ efforts to behave safely in order to prevent any possible road accident. This shows that even the literature mostly focused on the way of driving, the findings were similar to the situation of vehicle repair and maintenance which implies that attitudes of the drivers are crucial in determining the safety of the consumers on road. 6. Conclusion and implication This study endeavored to predict the determining factors that affect safety behavior among consumers when they send their vehicle for routine maintenance or major repairs. However, the study focused only on four factors based on the Theory of Planned Behavior namely; attitudes toward accident risks, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with the addition of one more factor which is safety priorities. Therefore, the implication of the study is not so much on policy but more on consumer education to shape consumer behavior toward safety in car maintenance. The descriptive analysis shows that the respondents have positive attitude toward accident risk, strong perceived behavioral control, positive impact of subjective norms, and prioritized safety but the safety behavior was only at moderate level. The findings of inferential statistics indicate that all predictive factors are important to determine safety behavior among consumers. Most importantly, safety priorities are shown to be the strongest factor. Therefore, safety priorities should be inculcated among consumers so that they will become more concerned about their own safety. Among the suggestions are to inculcate safety priorities during the training in the driving school. The syllabus in the driving school needs to be revised especially on the importance of choosing the trusted workshop. Safety should be given top priority in whatever decisions made regarding car maintenance. Other than that, the behavior to seek information prior to carrying out any service and repair work needs to be inculcated among drivers so that they will realize their responsibilities to gain information about price, quality, safety, and guarantees. The consumers’ attitude toward accident risks needs to be strengthened so that they realize the danger of modifying their vehicles illegally, the crucial importance of using genuine parts and trusted workshops. The consumers need to be exposed to information about the risks of using counterfeit and rebuilt parts even though the price may be cheaper than the original ones. The transformation in attitudes and behavior should be among not only individuals but also society at large. This is because subjective norms is one of the factors that lead to good safety behavior of the individuals.
76
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
Besides the implications on consumer education, this study is also important to researchers. This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in the motor vehicle repair and service industry to understand consumer safety behavior. The TPB’s original variables of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control together with the additional variable of safety priorities are tested. The findings show that all hypotheses are supported. Nevertheless, the study is limited to only four factors. Therefore, future studies should be carried out by adding other factors that may also contribute to predicting consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. Acknowledgement This research is funded by Universiti Putra Malaysia, No 06-0111-1286RU/F1. References Ajzen, I., 1987. Attitudes, traits, and actions Dispositional prediction of behaviour in personality and social psychology. In: Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 20, pp. 1–64. Ajzen, I., 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 50 (2), 179–211. Ajzen, I., Fishbein, M., 1980. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Azira, A.M., Faid Mohammad, A.R, Shuhaimi, M, Syafinaz, A.N, Rukman, H, Malina, O, 2012. Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding food hygiene and sanitation of food handlers in Kuala Pilah, Malaysia. J. Food Contr. 27, 289–293. Björklund, G., Åberg, L., 2005. Driver behaviour in intersections: formal and informal traffic rules. Transport. Res. Part F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 8 (3), 239– 253. Blackwell, R.D., Miniard, P.W., Engel, J., 2012. Consumer Behavior. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore. Blanton, H., Köblitz, A., McCaul, K., 2008. Misperceptions about norm misperceptions: descriptive, injunctive, and affective ‘social norming’ efforts to change health behaviors. J. Soc. Personal. Psychol. Compass 2 (3), 1379–1399. Brue, M., 1999. Economics. McGraw Hill, Boston. Clayton, D.A., Griffith, C.J., 2008. Efficacy of an extended theory of planned behavior model for predicting caterers’ hand hygiene practices. Int. J. Environ. Health Res. 18 (2), 83–98. Coakes, S.J., Steed, L., 2007. SPSS Version 14.0 for Windows, Analysis without Anguish. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Delhomme, P., 2001. Évaluation the actions face risk: using approach expérimentale the effect the control subjective and optimism absolute comparative Evaluation of actions when faced upon risk: an experimental approach of the effect of subjective control on optimism. Review Int. Psychol. Soc. 14, 45–81. Diekhoff, G., 1992. Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wm.C.Brown Publishers, Dubuque. Doris, P.S., Norlaila, A.B., Mastura, N., 2012. Permintaan terhadap Alat Ganti Kereta Tempatan dan implikasi terhadap peluang perniagaan Alat Ganti Kereta. J. Malaysian Consum. 18, 68–87. Elistina, A.B., Naemah, A., 2011. Consumers’ perceptions on the service quality in the motor vehicle repair and service industry: an exploratory study in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Pertanika J. Sci. Human. 19 (2), 409–422. Evans, L., 1996. Comment: the dominant role of driver behaviour in traffic safety. Am. J. Public Health 86, 784–785. Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, attitude, intention and behaviour. In: Reading, M. A. (Ed.), An Introduction to Theory and Research. Addison-Wesley. Gaymard, S., 2009. Norms in social representations: two studies with French young drivers. Europ. J. Psychol. Appl. Legal Context 1 (2), 165–181. Iversen, H., Rundmo, T., 2002. Environmental concern and environmental behavior among the Norwegian public. J. Risk Res. 5 (3), 265–279. Iversen, H., Rundmo, T., 2004. Attitudes towards traffic safety, driving behavior and accident involvement among the Norwegian public. J. Safety Ergon. 47 (5), 555– 572. Jackson, L., Chapman, P., Crundall., D., 2009. What happens next? Predicting other road users’ behaviour as a function of driving experience and processing time. J. Safety Ergon. 52, 154–164.
Lee, C., Geisner, I., Lewis, M., Neighbors, C., Larimer, M., 2007. Social motives and the interaction between descriptive and injunctive norms in college student drinking. J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 68 (5), 714–721. Lund, I., 2006. Attitudes as Predictors of Driver Behaviour in Norway and Ghana. NTNU, Department of Psychology, Trondheim. Lund, I.O., Rundmo, T., 2009. Cross-cultural comparisons of traffic safety, risk perception, attitudes and behavior. J. Safety Sci. 47 (4), 547–553. Malaysian Road Transport Department, 2013. Retrieved 13/10/2013, from. Malaysian Royal Police, 2013. Retrieved 3/10/2015. From
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Safety Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ssci
Application of Theory of Planned Behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry Elistina Abu Bakar ⇑, Nurul Syamimi Isa, Syuhaily Osman Department of Human Resources and Consumer Studies, Faculty Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 17 March 2016 Received in revised form 14 April 2017 Accepted 5 June 2017
Keywords: Safety Theory of Planned Behavior Motor vehicle repair
a b s t r a c t The objective of this paper is to examine the determinant factors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. A total of five hundred respondents were chosen through stratified random sampling. Multiple regressions were used to identify the factors that contribute to consumer safety behavior. The factors include attitude toward accident risk, social norm, perceived behavioral control and safety priorities as prescribed in the Theory of Planned Behavior. Results show that all factors can explain 39.7% variance in safety behavior of consumers and safety priorities become the main determinant factor. This research holds significant implications to government, industries and most importantly, consumers so that policy and educational programs can be proposed to inculcate good behavior among consumers especially on safety matters. Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The very substantial increase in the number of motor vehicles registration and the number of licensed drivers over the years has led to a huge demand for services provided by the motor vehicle repair and service industry in Malaysia (Malaysian Road Transport Department, 2013). However, despite the significant progress in this industry, there are concerns about consumer safety since unsatisfactory services by service providers can lead to an accident which results in personal injury or even death not only to the drivers but to other road users (Yawasi et al., 2013). Such concern surfaced and took root in the 1900s when Ralph Nader, the prominent American consumer advocate, published his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, exposing the practices and attitudes of vehicle manufacturers who ignored safety features on vehicle construction and repair, resulting in a number of deaths from car accidents that need not have occurred. In Malaysia, the issue relating to consumer safety in the motor vehicle repair and service industry is of great concern, even alarming. According to the Report issued by the Royal Malaysian Police (2013) among the various causes of road crashes in Malaysia are the drivers’ own negligence including the failure to ensure proper maintenance of their vehicles. Among the issues related to the industry is the use of non-original spare parts which definitely poses danger to consumers (Mohd Hamdan, 2005). This is ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Abu Bakar). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2017.06.001 0925-7535/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
supported by the statistics issued by the National Consumer Complaint Centre (NCCC) and the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCCC). According to the NCCC (2013), among the highest number of complaints lodged by consumers related to supply of goods are the supplies of non-original vehicle parts which amounted to 816 complaints from 2010 to 2013. In addition, according to the same report by the NCCC, the number of complaints received related to the whole industry in year 2013 alone totaled 4915 cases involving an estimated worth of RM22,182,476.00 (NCCC, 2013). Similarly, according to the statistics from the TCCC (2013), 583 complaints were lodged relating to the supply of non-quality spare parts and another 1019 complaints relating to the overall motor vehicle and repair industry. In addition, a study was carried out on the availability of spare parts of imported cars, which indicated that only 32% of the consumers agreed that the spare parts of imported cars were easily available whereas 68% said that the parts were not easily available (Doris et al., 2012). This problem will lead to the use of counterfeit parts due to non-availability of the original ones. Subsequently, this will lead to serious problems because according to the Motor Vehicle Owners Association of Malaysia, the majority of motorists face the risk of injury or worse consequences due to the use of counterfeit spare parts by unscrupulous workshops (Elistina and Naemah, 2011). Another safety issue in the industry is illegal vehicle modification, which the consumers and the service providers do not comply with rules as specified by the Malaysian Road Transport Division (RTD). According to the statistics from the RTD (2013), the modification of private vehicles which did not meet the specifications
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
have been increased by 1349 vehicles in 2013. Table 1 illustrates the statistics issued by RTD relating to illegal modification. Factors that contribute to the increase in cases are due to the existence of many workshops that offer these types of modification services (Royal Malaysian Police, 2013). This shows that consumers as well as workshops are getting bolder in violating the law without thinking about the consequences of their acts. This will definitely affect the safety of not only the drivers but also the passengers and other road users. Thus, it is important to study consumer safety behavior as well as the factors that contribute to this behavior. The main objective of this study is to examine factors affecting consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. However, only four factors are studied which are attitude toward accident risks, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities. 2. Literature review 2.1. Safety behavior Developing consumer behavior that lead to safety practices is very important to potray the level of capability among consumers so that they can safeguard their rights when dealing with traders as well as to prevent them from being involved in activities that will affect their safety such as illegal modification (Brue, 1999). This has been supported by Samuel and Hsiung (2016) in which safety behavior will determine the safety outcome. There are many studies which explore the issue of safety among consumers. For example, there was a study done by Redhwan and Karim (2010) with respect to road safety. This is because a positive behavior towards safety will avoid accidents. The aim of the study was to assess consumers’ safety behavior while on road by observing traffic regulations. However, most of previous studies on consumer safety behavior touch on the issue of food safety. For example, Michael et al. (2011) have adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior to view safe food handling behavior among consumers. Worsfold and Griffith (1997) have evaluated consumers’ food safety behavior according to steps in food preparation based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the consumers’ behavior in the motor vehicle repair industry and identify its determinants. 2.2. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) The Theory of Planned Behavior emerged in the 1980s, pioneered by Fishbein and Ajzen (1986). This theory is an extension of the Causal Theory of Action, which was also introduced by Fishbein and Ajzen around 1975. The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) is one of the commonest behavior theories and it has been widely adopted by researchers to predict consumers’ intention to perform that particular behavior. In this theory, two predictors of intention are: (1) attitude toward that behavior and (2) the normative component (subjective norm). In this Causal Theory of Action, the attitude component describes
Table 1 Illegal modification of private vehicles from 2012 to 2013. Source: Malaysian Road Transport Division (2013). Types of vehicles
2012
2013
Total
Motorcycle Motorcar Other private vehicles
1336 5537 786
2354 5082 1572
3690 10,619 2358
Total
7659
9008
16,667
71
evaluation of an individual’s behavior while subjective norm refers to an individual’s perception of the extent to which others are considered important for them to think that they need to behave in a certain way. The extension of this theory, namely the Theory of Planned Behavior by Fishbein and Ajzen (1986) and Ajzen (1987) suggested that the concept of perceived behavioral control will appear as an additional predictor of intention and the actual behavior of the individual. The cornerstone of the Theory of Planned Behavior is to discuss the factors that contribute to the formation of a person’s behavior. A person believes that they are likely to commit certain types of behavior if they believe that the revenue derived from the behavior is of positive value to them. Moreover, adherence to important reference sources, such as family, relatives, friends or co-workers is also a contributor to a person’s behavior. Thus, an individual is able to achieve a positive value of the practice and their behavior if they have a point of reference and are also able to perform a specific behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Clayton and Griffith, 2008). Therefore, this study has adopted this theory to predict consumer behavior related to safety in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. 2.3. The determinant factors of consumer safety behavior practices 2.3.1. Consumers’ attitude toward accident risks Past studies have shown that there is a relationship between the attitude of individuals in handling risk and their behavior to curb those risks. Subsequently, these positive attitudes toward safety can minimize any hazards including road accidents. For example, Smith and Louis (2008) in their study, emphasized how a person’s safe condition can be enhanced through positive attitudes toward safety. They found that one’s attitude to avoid any potential risk can affect an individual’s goals to increase their personal safety. There were several previous studies which had determined the correlation between attitudes toward accidents with safety practices. Among the studies are those by Sullman et al. (2002), and Parker et al. (1995) in which they arrived at the conclusion that the safety of the drivers is influenced by several factors such as the characteristics of the drivers, their attitudes, the road layout, the design of the vehicle, and also the weather. These researches placed more emphasis on human factors such as drivers’ attitudes toward traffic rules as a preventive measure to avoid accidents. These findings had also been supported by Evans (1996) and Parker et al. (1995) who also concluded that the attitude of the drivers plays an important role in traffic safety to avoid and prevent accident risks. In addition, the studies by Iversen and Rundmo (2004) and Rakauskas et al. (2007) among drivers in high-income countries revealed that the attitudes toward accident risk would have a direct impact on drivers to behave safely to prevent any possible accident. Other studies by Lund (2006) and Lund and Rundmo (2009) in Ghana had collected data among drivers in low-income countries and discovered that the attitude was not a significant predictor in influencing safe driving behavior. However, Lund and Rundmo (2009) had justified their findings by concluding that drivers in Ghana who were in low income group had a high degree of willingness to drive safely. There was a study done by Redhwan and Karim (2010) on road safety. The aim of the study was to assess consumer behavior and their attitude toward accident risks while on the road. They examined the relationship between attitudes and behavior and found that the respondents with negative attitudes toward accident risks will not abide by the traffic laws. Though previous studies had touched on the issue of safety, their area of study was mostly on the issues of food safety (Azira et al., 2012; Norrakiah and Oi, 2013), road safety (Iversen and Rundmo, 2004; Rakauskas et al., 2007; Rundmo and Moen, 2009) and safety at the workplace (Rundmo and Hale, 2003). Previous researches did not specifically
72
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
study the safety behavior of consumers when sending their vehicles for maintenance and repairing works. Thus, it is very important to determine their attitude toward accident risks if they send their vehicles to unreliable workshops as well as to identify the existence of the relationship between attitude and their behavior. 2.3.2. Subjective norms of consumers Subjective norms associated with safety, was first proposed by Perkins and Berkowitz (1986) in their study among college students. In their study, they focused on uncovering the factors affecting the formation of attitudes and behaviors due to the belief that social influences could lead to good behavior to protect their safety and to prevent any hazards. In addition, there were also previous studies that tested the correlation between subjective norms and safety behavior. For example, a study by Iversen and Rundmo (2002) among adolescents and Blanton et al. (2008) among drivers concluded that individuals with high subjective norms score were more likely to indulge in safety behavior while those with low subjective norms score would do otherwise. In addition, a study by Bjorklund and Aberg (2005) relating to drinking behavior while driving and Stasson and Fishbein (2006) on the issue of wearing safety belt had also confirmed that the subjective norm component is a very strong predictor in influencing drivers’ behavior, particularly in relation to attitudes and actions that comply with road traffic regulations. The review by Gaymard (2009) also gave the same explanation in which the subjective norms would impact driver behavior and thus become a major motivational influence and protective measure to improve compliance with road safety regulations. This review of previous researches shows that adherence to traffic rules among drivers to prevent any risk of accidents was due to the influence of important people in their life as well as society. 2.3.3. Perceived behavioral control of consumer There are several previous studies that examined the notion of drivers’ perceived behavior control on the issue of safety. For example, a study by Jackson et al. (2009) concluded that individuals who possess a high ability to control their behavior can minimize and avoid accident risks. The inexperienced drivers also have demonstrated low ability to control the outcomes and thus will respond slowly when facing any hazard. In addition, a study by Windsor et al. (2008) also found that the increase in perceived control was associated with the ability of an individual to reduce the risks associated with attitudes and behaviors that were unsafe. Thus, previous research had concluded that individuals have different levels of perceived control in the area of safety. Delhomme (2001) and SmithMcKenna (1993) had suggested that high perceived control will reduce the level of risk perception among drivers of any unsafe behavior. This is because the individual beliefs of any similar situations from the past or current experience will contribute to the perception of individuals to increase individual self-protection practices. Thus, the previous empirical studies had suggested that self-control is an important determinant in identifying the quality of human behavior. For example, Ajzen (1991) suggested that human social behavior is driven by three types of interpersonal needs, including control. This means that an individual is likely to do something that is within their control. In addition, a previous study by Proshansky et al. (1974) also claimed that in psychology and human environment, an individual tends to feel and behave in a more positive way when they have greater experience through their environment. This is because they feel that they have high ability to control the outcomes of their behavior. This has also been supported by Moen and Rundmo
(2005) in whose study the relationship between perceived behavioral control and safety behavior was confirmed. In Malaysia, a study was done by Nur Sabahiah and Satoshi (2011) which also found that perceived behavioral control of Malaysian drivers would affect their behavior in reducing risks of accidents. The drivers were more likely to observe the speed limit as well as use safety helmets as the measures to reduce risks while on the road if they felt more in control. Thus, it is assumed that the perceived behavioral control is also one predictor of consumer safety behavior while sending their vehicles to workshops for any repair and maintenance work. 2.3.4. Safety priorities Although Ajzen (1987, 1991) had applied the TPB by looking at three factors, namely, the attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, a lot of other researchers had used the TPB by adding other relevant variables. Among these were the studies by Moen and Rundmo (2005), Moen (2007) and Rundmo and Hale (1999) which added another variable, namely safety priorities. According to Rundmo and Hale (2003), safety priorities were the early reaction by an individual to refrain from engaging in any risky behavior. Safety priorities refer to the situations of how individuals give more consideration to safety in their decision making (Moen, 2007) and Rundmo and Moen (2009) reiterated in their study on safety behavior among drivers that safety priorities were closely linked to the drivers’ safety practices in avoiding risks from happening. They claimed that the professional drivers who have a higher level of safety priorities, due to their values obtained from training, will act positively to mitigate risk compared to unprofessional drivers who had a lower level of safety priorities. Lee et al. (2007) had also examined the relationship between attitude and safety priorities. Individuals’ safety priorities have been seen through the way they make their judgment about their safety and their willingness to take such risks. They found that safety priorities were strongly related to their behavior to mitigate the risks. Thus, it is interesting to determine the level of safety priorities and explore its relationship with safety behavior among consumers when they send their vehicles to workshops. Therefore, based on the above analysis of the literature, the following hypothesis is formulated: H01. Attitude toward accident risks, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities are not predictors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry.
3. Methods 3.1. Population, sample, sampling design and data collection procedure The research area in this study is the Klang Valley, which is located in the urban area of Selangor and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur in Peninsular Malaysia. Since the location is in the commercial hub of the country, it is considered to be the best research area to represent urban Malaysian consumers. This research is a cross-sectional study and the data are gathered through selfadministered questionnaire. The population comprises only Muslim consumers who have ever sent their vehicles to workshops. A stratified random sampling method was carried out to select the cities, the residential areas as well as the respondents. Five major cities around the Klang Valley were selected through simple random sampling, namely Ampang Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Cheras and Putrajaya. The number of respondents for each city was proportionately determined by the total population of that
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
area based on the statistics released by the Malaysian Department of Statistics (2010). The selection of residential areas for each of the five cities was based on information from the Municipal Council. In total, 500 respondents from 10 residential areas participated in this study. Table 2 explains the population size and number of respondents for each city. Once the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University Putra University approved the instrument and data collection procedure, the data was collected by meeting all the selected respondents at their houses. The written informed consent was obtained from all respondents before taking part in the survey. The respondents were estimated to take 20 min to complete the questionnaire and were supervised should any difficulty arise in understanding the questions. The questionnaires were also checked prior to submission to ensure missing data is set to minimum level. 3.2. Research instrument The questionnaire was designed to identify factors affecting consumer safety behavior. The questionnaire comprised three parts. The first part was designed to collect respondents’ sociodemographic related information such as gender, income, level of education, and marital status. Apart from that, the respondents were also asked the types of workshop that they went to, either workshops under manufacturer’s supervision or others. The information on whether they sent their vehicles to the same workshop every time for services or maintenance work also was gathered. Part B was on the determinants of safe behavior which included subjective norms, attitudes toward risk, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities. There were 23 statements in Part B which comprised 3 statements on subjective norms, 5 statements on attitude toward risk, 6 statements on perceived behavioral control, and another 9 statements on safety priorities. Subjective norms refers to the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the behavior in question. The social pressure in this questionnaire refers to the important persons to the respondents who would think that they would not use counterfeit motor parts, make dangerous modifications and believe that they were safety conscious persons. Perceived behavioral control reflects a person’s perception of the ease or difficulty of implementing the behavior in question. It concerns beliefs about the presence of control factors that may facilitate or hinder their performance of the behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Thus, the questions in this part concern about the ability and how easy the decisions about motor vehicle repairing and maintenance can be made by the respondents. Attitudes about accident risks refer to one’s salient belief that performing the safety behavior would lead to certain outcomes which would minimize the accident risks (Smith and Louis, 2008). Safety priorities on the other hand refers to the situations of how individuals give more consideration to safety in their decision making (Moen, 2007). It includes the items such as considering safety factor as a top priority, not willing to take any risks, speaking up if harm were to be caused and abiding by the safety laws and regulations. Multiple item scales were used to measure each variable in this study. A seven-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) was used to anchor each item in the Table 2 Population size and number of respondents. City
Population size
Total number of samples
Ampang Jaya Subang Jaya Petaling Jaya Cheras Putrajaya
126,285 708,296 613,977 244,563 68,361
36 201 174 70 19
Total
1,761,482
500
73
questionnaire. The items were adapted from Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) based on TPB and modifications were made to suit the objectives of the research. The items of safety priorities were adopted from Iversen (2004) in the study from Moen (2007) related to road traffic safety research. The coefficient alphas for reliability test ranging from 0.810 for subjective norms, 0.836 for attitude toward risk, 0.821 for perceived behavior control, and 0.871 for safety priorities. The items for consumer safety behavior were self-constructed and comprised 12 items. The scale ranged from 1 (never) to 4 (always). Safety behavior was measured according to what consumers are expected to do based on their responsibilities as consumers as prescribed under the Guidelines and Code of Ethics for motor vehicle repair and service industry in Malaysia. The items cover the expected behavior of consumers pre, during and post transaction (Blackwell et al., 2012). The consumers are expected to search for information before sending the vehicle and choose trusted and reliable workshops. During transaction, the consumers are expected not to engage in unscrupulous behavior such as making illegal modifications and using counterfeit parts while in post transaction the consumers are expected to check the rendered work and ask about the work done. The coefficient alpha reliability test for this scale is 0.836. 3.3. Analysis Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was employed to analyze data in this study. Descriptive analyses and stepwise multiple regression analysis had been utilized to determine the predictive factors of consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. The independent variables are the attitude toward accident risk, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control and safety priorities while the safety behavior among consumers is the dependent variable. 4. Result 4.1. Sample characteristics A total of 500 respondents participated in this study. About 19.8% of the respondents were those under the age of 28 and this group of respondents can represent the behavior of young drivers in the country. The rest were in the age group of 29–44 years (72.8%) and above 45 years (2.8%). About 60% of the respondents were female and 40% were male. In terms of income, 34.2% of the respondents had a household income of less than MYR1000 which was considered as low income group and only 15.2% of the respondents had a monthly income of more than MYR3000. Regarding the level of education, a total of 32% of the respondents were certificate/diploma holders, 29.6% were degree holders while 30.8% had attained secondary school level. Most of the respondents were single (68.2%) while the rest were married with children (31.8%). In terms of the choice of workshop, 58.8% claimed that they sent their vehicles to workshops which were not under the supervision of the manufacturers while 41.2% claimed otherwise. About slightly half of the respondents (56.8%) stated that they did not send the vehicle to the same workshop every time and only 43.2% of the respondents were loyal customers of the same workshops. The background of the respondents is presented in Table 3.1. 4.2. Subjective norms, attitudes toward accident risk and perceived behavior control Table 3.2 shows the analysis of predictive factors in consumer safety behavior. The factors are subjective norms, attitude toward accident risk, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities.
74
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
Table 3.1 Background of the respondents.
Table 3.2 Subjective norms, Attitudes toward accident risk, and perceived behavioral control.
Socio-demographic characteristics
N = 500
%
Statement
Mean
Gender Male Female
Standard deviation
200 300
40 60
Age (Year) Below 28 29–44 45 and above
99 364 14
19.8 72.8 2.8
Subjective norms People who are important to me think: I would not use counterfeit parts I would not make illegal modifications I am a safety conscious person
5.11 5.44 5.64
1.671 1.569 1.464
Mean
5.39
1.568
Attitudes toward accident risk Vehicle modifications are dangerous Using genuine parts can reduce risk Sending to a trusted workshop can reduce risk Unsafe acts are unacceptable Accident is harmful
5.69 5.57 5.67 5.45 5.88
1.585 1.538 1.497 1.802 1.538
Mean
5.65
1.585
Perceived behavioral; control I am able to decide: not to make any illegal modifications not to buy counterfeit parts. to send a vehicle to a trusted workshop
5.88 5.66 5.47
1.509 1.518 1.423
It is easy to make decision: to send a vehicle to a trusted workshop to buy original parts not to make any illegal modifications
5.53 5.47 5.45
1.649 1.641 1.667
Mean
5.48
1.567
Safety priorities Consider safety factor Not to take risk by using unsafe parts Speak up if harm caused Send a vehicle to a trusted workshop only Rebuke if the workshop violates laws Abide by safety laws Important to emphasize safety Understand the rules and laws related to safety The choice of workshop is important
5.68 5.09 5.92 5.85 5.47 5.83 5.83 5.65 5.95
1.496 2.074 1.458 1.686 1.560 1.365 1.374 1.360 1.381
Mean
5.69
1.379
Level of education Never studies Primary school Secondary school Certificate/Diploma Bachelor’s degree Master/Ph.D Others
2 12 154 160 148 18 1
0.4 2.4 30.8 32.0 29.6 3.6 0.2
Marital status Marriage Single Others
152 341 4
30.4 68.2 0.8
Total monthly income Below RM1000 RM1001-RM2000 RM2001-RM3000 More than RM3000
171 141 87 76
34.2 28.2 17.4 15.2
Types of workshop Workshop under the manufacturer Others
169 294
33.8 58.8
Send vehicles to the same workshop Yes No
197 284
39.4 56.8
The scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = ‘‘strongly agree”. By looking at the total mean score for each variable, it is shown that all variables have a mean score of above 5. This finding indicates that the respondents put high regard on subjective norms in determining their behavior (M = 5.39, SD = 1.568), have positive attitude toward accident risk (M = 5.65, SD = 1.585), have control over their behavior (M = 5.48, SD = 1.567) and prioritize safety (M = 5.69, SD = 1.379). 4.3. Consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and services Table 3.3 shows the mean value for each statement that represents safety behavior of the respondents. The items were measured according to four range scales, which were 1 = never to 4 = always. The findings showed that the highest mean value was 3.38 and standard deviation was 0.845 for the statement ‘‘I check the rendered work to ensure that it has been carried out as agreed.”, followed by the second highest total score for the statement ‘‘I got the information before agreeing to any repair work” that is M = 3:37, SD = 0.831. It was also consistent with the third highest score which was for the statement ‘‘I ask others about the workshop that I want to visit”. Nevertheless, the lowest mean score was for the statement ‘‘I choose workshop offering expensive prices because I am very convinced about the services provided” (M = 2.45, SD = 1.095). The overall total mean score for consumer safety behavior was 3.16 and SD = 0.856 which means the respondents have positive and good behavior when sending their vehicles to workshops but at moderate level. 4.4. Determinants of safety behavior Table 3.4 shows the result of stepwise regression analysis in order to determine whether the attitude towards accident risk,
Table 3.3 The consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair services. Statement
Mean
Standard deviation
Send a vehicle to the trusted workshop Buy original car parts Do not make illegal modifications
3.34 3.19 3.09
.855 .879 1.079
Ask others about the workshop Search for information about the workshop Choose expensive workshop Send a vehicle to the same workshop Looking for information on vehicle maintenance Check the rendered works Get back the old parts after replacement Ask about the repair work after the work done Send for maintenance as per schedule
3.34 3.37 2.45 3.34 3.16 3.38 2.99 3.15 3.19
0.837 0.831 1.095 0.855 0.867 0.845 0.969 0.890 0.851
Total
3.16
0.856
subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and safety priorities are the predictive factors of safety behavior among consumers. This analysis is chosen since this is an exploratory study and the order of entry of the independent variables can be established by the statistical criteria produced by the stepwise procedure. This technique also allows for the later removal of variables that were previously entered (Coakes and Steed, 2007). This is also to ensure that only the significant variables are entered into the model (Diekhoff, 1992). Nevertheless, only the four studied independent variables are entered into the model. Results of the analysis show that safety priorities can explain 31.9% variance in safe behavior of
75
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76 Table 3.4 Result of multiple regressions. Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R square
df
1 2 3 4
0.565 0.611 0.625 0.630
0.319 0.373 0.391 0.397
0.318 0.370 0.387 0.392
1 2 3 4
regression regression regression regression
439 438 437 436
residual residual residual residual
F
Sig
205.734 130.177 93.568 71.869
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Note: Sig. F < 0.0001. 1. Predictors: Safety priorities. 2. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms. 3. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms, Perceived Behavioral Control. 4. Predictors: Safety priorities, Subjective norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, Attitudes towards accident risks. Dependent Variable: Safety behavior.
consumers followed by subjective norms, which means both of these factors, explain 37.3% of variance as predictive factors. The whole model which comprises safety priorities, attitudes toward accident risk, subjective norms and perceived behavior al control can explain 39.7% variance in safety behavior of consumers. Thus it can be concluded that safety priorities toward accident risks can become a strong predictive factor compared to subjective norms and perceived behavior al controls. 5. Discussion The result in this study imply that the respondents have positive behavior but only at moderate level in which they will make sure that the maintenance work on their vehicles by the workshops is what they have agreed prior to the work done. In addition, the results also indicated that the respondents made efforts to search for information first about the maintenance work and the workshops that they were going to visit before sending their vehicles. This shows that the consumers took the required initiative to understand the process so that they would not be easily misled by the suppliers and made sure that the workshops were trustworthy. Relating to the determinant factors that affect behavior, the finding is consistent with previous studies which correlated safety priorities with individuals’’ practices to safeguard themselves from risks. For example, the study by Rundmo and Hale (2003) found that safety priority was an important factor for workers to take any safety measures to reduce any accident risk. Similarly, the study by Moen (2007) also found that safety priorities have a strong relationship with the consumers’ intentions as well as behavior to do something positive to guarantee their personal safety. In addition, Moen and Rundmo (2005) also found in their study that the safety priorities are closely linked with consumers’ safety practices leading to the prevention of risks from dangerous and unsafe threats. Besides, the finding also reveals that subjective norm and perceived behavioral control also contribute to safety behavior of consumers. This has been acknowledged in the literature by Bjorklund and Aberg (2005), and Lee et al. (2007), who found that the subjective norms can influence bad behavior while driving. Stasson and Fishbein (2006) also analyzed the subjective norms influence on the usage of seat belts while driving and found there was a relationship between subjective norms and the usage of seat belts. A study by Smith and Louis (2008) also indicated that subjective norms have a strong influence on the actions of individuals because their actions are determined by people who are important in their life. Similarly, on the factor of perceived behavioral control, past studies also indicated the same finding. For example, Jackson et al. (2009) explored this variable and concluded that individuals who believe that they can control the expected outcome have a higher ability to control their behavior. In addition, Windsor et al. (2008) also found that an increase in perceived control is related to the probability of an individual reducing the risks associated with attitudes and behaviors that are unsafe.
In addition, attitude is also a factor that makes a significant contribution to the model in safety behavior. For example, studies by Evans (1996) and Parker et al. (1995) reported the same conclusion that the attitude of the drivers plays an important role in traffic safety to avoid and prevent the risk of accidents on the road. Similarly, the study by Iversen (2004) which used a sample of drivers in high-income countries also revealed that attitudes toward accident risk directly impacted drivers’ efforts to behave safely in order to prevent any possible road accident. This shows that even the literature mostly focused on the way of driving, the findings were similar to the situation of vehicle repair and maintenance which implies that attitudes of the drivers are crucial in determining the safety of the consumers on road. 6. Conclusion and implication This study endeavored to predict the determining factors that affect safety behavior among consumers when they send their vehicle for routine maintenance or major repairs. However, the study focused only on four factors based on the Theory of Planned Behavior namely; attitudes toward accident risks, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control with the addition of one more factor which is safety priorities. Therefore, the implication of the study is not so much on policy but more on consumer education to shape consumer behavior toward safety in car maintenance. The descriptive analysis shows that the respondents have positive attitude toward accident risk, strong perceived behavioral control, positive impact of subjective norms, and prioritized safety but the safety behavior was only at moderate level. The findings of inferential statistics indicate that all predictive factors are important to determine safety behavior among consumers. Most importantly, safety priorities are shown to be the strongest factor. Therefore, safety priorities should be inculcated among consumers so that they will become more concerned about their own safety. Among the suggestions are to inculcate safety priorities during the training in the driving school. The syllabus in the driving school needs to be revised especially on the importance of choosing the trusted workshop. Safety should be given top priority in whatever decisions made regarding car maintenance. Other than that, the behavior to seek information prior to carrying out any service and repair work needs to be inculcated among drivers so that they will realize their responsibilities to gain information about price, quality, safety, and guarantees. The consumers’ attitude toward accident risks needs to be strengthened so that they realize the danger of modifying their vehicles illegally, the crucial importance of using genuine parts and trusted workshops. The consumers need to be exposed to information about the risks of using counterfeit and rebuilt parts even though the price may be cheaper than the original ones. The transformation in attitudes and behavior should be among not only individuals but also society at large. This is because subjective norms is one of the factors that lead to good safety behavior of the individuals.
76
E. Abu Bakar et al. / Safety Science 98 (2017) 70–76
Besides the implications on consumer education, this study is also important to researchers. This study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in the motor vehicle repair and service industry to understand consumer safety behavior. The TPB’s original variables of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control together with the additional variable of safety priorities are tested. The findings show that all hypotheses are supported. Nevertheless, the study is limited to only four factors. Therefore, future studies should be carried out by adding other factors that may also contribute to predicting consumer safety behavior in the motor vehicle repair and service industry. Acknowledgement This research is funded by Universiti Putra Malaysia, No 06-0111-1286RU/F1. References Ajzen, I., 1987. Attitudes, traits, and actions Dispositional prediction of behaviour in personality and social psychology. In: Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 20, pp. 1–64. Ajzen, I., 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 50 (2), 179–211. Ajzen, I., Fishbein, M., 1980. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Azira, A.M., Faid Mohammad, A.R, Shuhaimi, M, Syafinaz, A.N, Rukman, H, Malina, O, 2012. Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding food hygiene and sanitation of food handlers in Kuala Pilah, Malaysia. J. Food Contr. 27, 289–293. Björklund, G., Åberg, L., 2005. Driver behaviour in intersections: formal and informal traffic rules. Transport. Res. Part F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 8 (3), 239– 253. Blackwell, R.D., Miniard, P.W., Engel, J., 2012. Consumer Behavior. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore. Blanton, H., Köblitz, A., McCaul, K., 2008. Misperceptions about norm misperceptions: descriptive, injunctive, and affective ‘social norming’ efforts to change health behaviors. J. Soc. Personal. Psychol. Compass 2 (3), 1379–1399. Brue, M., 1999. Economics. McGraw Hill, Boston. Clayton, D.A., Griffith, C.J., 2008. Efficacy of an extended theory of planned behavior model for predicting caterers’ hand hygiene practices. Int. J. Environ. Health Res. 18 (2), 83–98. Coakes, S.J., Steed, L., 2007. SPSS Version 14.0 for Windows, Analysis without Anguish. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Delhomme, P., 2001. Évaluation the actions face risk: using approach expérimentale the effect the control subjective and optimism absolute comparative Evaluation of actions when faced upon risk: an experimental approach of the effect of subjective control on optimism. Review Int. Psychol. Soc. 14, 45–81. Diekhoff, G., 1992. Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wm.C.Brown Publishers, Dubuque. Doris, P.S., Norlaila, A.B., Mastura, N., 2012. Permintaan terhadap Alat Ganti Kereta Tempatan dan implikasi terhadap peluang perniagaan Alat Ganti Kereta. J. Malaysian Consum. 18, 68–87. Elistina, A.B., Naemah, A., 2011. Consumers’ perceptions on the service quality in the motor vehicle repair and service industry: an exploratory study in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Pertanika J. Sci. Human. 19 (2), 409–422. Evans, L., 1996. Comment: the dominant role of driver behaviour in traffic safety. Am. J. Public Health 86, 784–785. Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, attitude, intention and behaviour. In: Reading, M. A. (Ed.), An Introduction to Theory and Research. Addison-Wesley. Gaymard, S., 2009. Norms in social representations: two studies with French young drivers. Europ. J. Psychol. Appl. Legal Context 1 (2), 165–181. Iversen, H., Rundmo, T., 2002. Environmental concern and environmental behavior among the Norwegian public. J. Risk Res. 5 (3), 265–279. Iversen, H., Rundmo, T., 2004. Attitudes towards traffic safety, driving behavior and accident involvement among the Norwegian public. J. Safety Ergon. 47 (5), 555– 572. Jackson, L., Chapman, P., Crundall., D., 2009. What happens next? Predicting other road users’ behaviour as a function of driving experience and processing time. J. Safety Ergon. 52, 154–164.
Lee, C., Geisner, I., Lewis, M., Neighbors, C., Larimer, M., 2007. Social motives and the interaction between descriptive and injunctive norms in college student drinking. J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 68 (5), 714–721. Lund, I., 2006. Attitudes as Predictors of Driver Behaviour in Norway and Ghana. NTNU, Department of Psychology, Trondheim. Lund, I.O., Rundmo, T., 2009. Cross-cultural comparisons of traffic safety, risk perception, attitudes and behavior. J. Safety Sci. 47 (4), 547–553. Malaysian Road Transport Department, 2013. Retrieved 13/10/2013, from