Sustainability of Exercise Behavior in Seniors: An Application of the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior

IntroductionAccording to a 2016 report by Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 and older will surpass the number of children aged 14 and under in 2017. Moreover, it is projected that the elderly will represent 42.5% of the total population by 2065. Therefore, we must seek ways to address senior citizens' decline in physical functioning and ability to earn an income, along with the related psychological difficulties that they often develop. There has been a growing focus on helping baby boomers to age successfully (Knickman & Snell, 2002). The main factors affecting seniors' quality of life have been classified in physical, economic, and interpersonal relationships categories in previous studies (Diener & Suh, 1997; Nijs, de Graaf, Kok, & van Staveren, 2006). According to the World Health Organization's quality of life scale (WHOQOL-BREF), seniors' quality of life is influenced by their degree of satisfaction with their physical and psychological functioning and their social relationships. Understanding and addressing the most significant variables can lead to a successful quality of life for seniors (Min et al., 2002). For seniors, exercising is a representative leisure activity that can lead to greater happiness as well as maintaining physical capacities (Leonard, 2008). Decarlo (1974) argued that those who participated in physical leisure activities regularly from middle age to old age would show stronger signs of successful aging than those who did so intermittently. That is, seniors' participation in exercise is an essential factor to improve their degree of life satisfaction due to their healthier physical condition (Jindo, Fujii, Tsunoda, Fujii, Sriramatr & Okura, 2016; Lee & Paffenbarger, 2000). For this reason, several studies have found positive effects of exercise participation among seniors (e.g., Barrett & Smerdely, 2002). Although the importance of preliminary knowledge has been addressed in the literature on exercise (Freidson, 1988), only a few attempts have been made to identify the role of preliminary knowledge in the context of seniors' physical activity. It is important to understand the role of preliminary knowledge in order to stimulate seniors' participation in physical activities. Therefore, in the present study, this construct is incorporated as an extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate seniors' exercise intention and behavior.The Theory of Planned BehaviorThe TPB has been used as a theoretical basis for predicting and explaining behavior in social sciences. Its usefulness has been demonstrated across many research fields, including health behavior, consumer behavior, and environmentally friendly behavior (Ahmad et al., 2014; Chuan, Yusof, Soon & Abdullah, 2014; Chiu, Lee, & Won, 2014; Cunningham & Kwon, 2003; Noar & Zimmerman, 2005; Ohtomo & Hirose, 2007; Wu, Li, & Sung, 2016). According to Ajzen (1991), attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control lead to individuals' intention to perform a behavior. Moreover, their intention and perceived behavioral control have positive effects on actual behavior. Thus, we propose five hypotheses on the basis of the TPB:Hypothesis 1: Seniors' attitude will have a positive influence on their exercise intention.Hypothesis 2: Seniors ' subjective norms will have a positive influence on their exercise intention.Hypothesis 3: Seniors' perceived behavioral control will have a positive influence on their exercise intention.Hypothesis 4: Seniors' perceived behavioral control will have a positive influence on their exercise behavior.Hypothesis 5: Seniors ' exercise intention will have a positive influence on their exercise behavior.Preliminary KnowledgeKnowledge is information that can be drawn from memory or before an external search for a product occurs. It is important for a consumer to collect and organize information as a meaningful construct, and this information will ultimately influence the choice and use of the product (Alba & Hutchinson, 1987). …