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Updated: Apr 22, 2026

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
Can personality bridge the intention-behavior gap to predict who will exercise?
Carolyn MacCann1, Jemma Todd1, Barbara A Mullan2
1School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Objectives:
To explore whether HEXACO personality domains could incrementally increase the prediction of exercise behavior above Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables, and whether personality moderated the intention-behavior gap.
Methods:
US College students (N = 1017) completed demographic, TPB, HEXACO domain and exercise behavior measures.
Results:
The TPB predicted physical activity, accounting for 45% and 39% of variance in intention and behavior, respectively. Regarding personality domains, lower emotionality significantly predicted intention, and lower honesty-humility significantly predicted behavior, but these were small effects. Personality did not moderate the intention-behavior gap.
Conclusions:
Personality has a limited direct role in predicting exercise intention and behavior beyond the TPB. The prediction of exercise behavior from honesty-humility highlights the importance of considering the HEXACO personality model.
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