Applying Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior to a study of online course adoption in public relations education

This study used Icek Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior to research public relations faculty intentions of teaching online. All of the main predictor variables (Subjective Norms, Attitude toward the Act and Perceived Behavioral Control) were statistically significant at varying degrees in predicting intent to teach public relations online. Of the three, Subjective Norms was found to be the strongest predictor of Intention. Collectively, Subjective Norms, Attitude toward the Act and Perceived Behavioral Control explained 49% of the variance in intent to teach a public relations course online. Subsequent tests, however, revealed a poor model fit when the Theory of Planned Behavior is applied to faculty intentions of teaching public relations online. There were no significant relationships between the demographic variables age, gender and past experience teaching public relations and intentions to teach a public relations course online. Additional analysis revealed a crossover effect, a relationship between Attitude toward the Act and Subjective Norms.