Some tests of the distinction between attitude and perceived behavioural control

Although perceived behavioural control has recently become a popular variable for use in predicting behaviour or intention to behave, it is far from clear that this variable is theoretically distinguishable from attitude. Consequently, we performed some tests of the distinction between attitude and perceived behavioural control. In Expt 1, using participants from an American university, the semantic differential scales that have often been used to measure attitude and perceived behavioural control were submitted to factor analyses. Consistent with the distinction, a two-factor solution resulted in the attitude and perceived behavioural control items clearly loading on different factors. Further, Expt 2 demonstrated that the attitude factor predicts behavioural beliefs and does not predict control beliefs, but the reverse is true concerning the perceived behavioural control factor. Finally, in Expts 3-5, the beliefs presumed to underlie these two variables were cluster analysed. Consistent with the distinction, and paralleling findings obtained by Trafimow & Fishbein (1995), the order in which participants wrote down their beliefs exhibited significant clustering by belief type.