Personality traits and traffic violations: the serial mediating role of theory of planned behavior constructs and intention

Abstract

Driving behavior is a key factor in traffic accidents. Previous studies have shown a clear link between traffic violations and self-reported road accidents, with intention explaining a large part of the variation in violations. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study aims to verify the mediating potential of behavioral, normative, and control beliefs on the relationships between personality traits and traffic violations. A sample of 236 drivers filled out several instruments measuring driving behavior, the Big Five personality traits, and the behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. The beliefs were measured for various behavioral situations conducive to traffic violations, constructed from the Theory of Planned Behavior. We performed a mediation analysis with composite values for the Theory of Planned Behavior constructs as mediator variables. The results showed a fully mediating effect of behavioral beliefs (attitude) and intention in the relationships between neuroticism, agreeableness, or conscientiousness and violations. Normative beliefs (subjective and descriptive) and intention had only a moderate mediating effect in the same relationship pattern. Agreeableness remained associated with violations, even after controlling for normative beliefs. Overall, our results highlight the mediating role of Theory of Planned Behavior constructs in the associations between personality traits and driving behavior. They also suggest that changing behavioral and normative beliefs may reduce the effect of personality traits on violations, which could help design more effective interventions to reduce traffic violations.