Theory of Planned Behaviour | CONSERVATION OF ASIAN ELEPHANTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Theory of planned behaviour suggests that a person’s behaviour is determined by his/her intention to perform the behaviour and that this intention is, in turn, determined by three components: (1) their attitude towards the specific behaviour, (2) the subjective norms about the target behaviour, and (3) their perceived behavioural control.

1. Attitude (towards the specific behaviour)

Attitude toward the behaviour is a person’s overall evaluation of the behaviour. It is assumed to have two components which work together: (1) beliefs about consequences of the behaviour (2) and the corresponding positive or negative judgments about features of the behaviour (outcome evaluations: If I were to engage in this particular behaviour, will the results be desirable?).

Essentially, the act of forest destruction for infrastructure development and extractive industries (particularly timber and palm-oil) and elephant poaching for ivory has helped to generate potential profit to be made on timber trade and ivory sales. Clearly, we can see that the engagement in these human activities (behaviour) is able to open up opportunities for profit (desirable outcome), which in turn drives humans to develop a positive attitude towards carrying out such environmentally destructive behaviour.

2. Subjective Norms (about the behaviour)

Subjective norms are a person’s own estimate of the social pressure to perform the target behaviour. Subjective norms are assumed to involve beliefs about how other people, who may be in some way important to the person, would like them to behave (normative beliefs).

Locally, the act of logging illegally for forest products and poaching has involved a wide variety of complex socio-economic factors and cultural attitudes. In other words, these human activities are not only exacerbated by poverty, but also have been a traditional source of income for many rural communities. As a consequence, humans are naturally drawn to committing such environmentally destructive behaviours because of attractive benefits, such as high profit margin. Further, a low probability of being caught and convicted due to the fact that transnational law-enforcement in rural areas is virtually non-existent could somehow convey to humans the idea that these environmental crimes are approved by government officials, thereby leading more and more humans to partake in such unsustainable activities. These environmental crimes eventually become a norm in that particular culture, where members of the community considered to be standards of proper or acceptable behaviour.

3. Perceived Behavioural Control

Perceived behavioural control is the extent to which a person feels that he/she is able to enact the behaviour. It has two aspects: (1) how much a person has control over the behaviour, and (2) how confident a person feels about being able to perform or not perform the behaviour.

Looking at the number of forested areas being destroyed and elephants being killed, we can infer that the people might have perceived themselves as having control over what they are doing. Moreover, the actors of environmental crimes have the tendency to subvert forest protection policies that deprive them of opportunities for profits, which demonstrates their feeling of empowerment in doing what is best for them – illegal logging and poaching of wild elephants.