What Predicts Intentions and Behavior? A Cultural Exploration of Attitude, Belief, and Norm Effects Across 55 Countries

We report a series of meta-meta-analyses examining cultural variability in the Theory of Planned Behavior involving data from 956 studies across 54 countries ( N = 151,177 to 245,694). Using multi-level analyses, we identified substantive variability within-country for all effects (variability at level 2 in 5 out of 6 analyses >70%). Cross-cultural variability was sizable, ranging from 5.5% for the attitude-intention association to 57.8% for the norm-behavior association. On average, cross-cultural variability was larger for behavior (28.6%) than for intentions (8.1% of the variability). We were able to predict systematic patterns for individually focused cognitions (attitudes, perceived behavioral control) on behavioral intentions, but no consistent effects emerged predicting variability in behavioral outcomes or for norms. These patterns suggest cultural theories are better at predicting variability in individualistic cognitions, but do less well for explaining variability in behavior or norm effects, even though these effects show greater variability cross-culturally.