Abstract
Road accidents contribute significantly to child mortality and injuries in South Africa. One way in which countries around the world, including South Africa, are trying to deal with the problem is through promoting the use of child car restraints. Despite this, use of child car restraints is noted to be low. This study examines parent and carer beliefs, attitude and behavioural intentions towards safe child passenger travel, particularly as this relates to use of child car restraints. The study utilises the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Health Belief Model (HBM) to propose a conceptual model that can be used to assist in explaining behavioural intentions towards use of child car restraints.
The study follows a quantitative research approach to address the presented objectives. The research process put forward by Saunders et al. (2012) is followed. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from parents and carers of children up to 8 years old. The data was collected in areas within three main regions of Gauteng: namely, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane. 261 questionnaires were collected, of which 253 were usable. The data is analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science).
The results show that parents and carers had a positive attitude and positive behavioural intentions towards use of child car restraints. The results further indicate that attitudes towards use of child car restraints is influenced by perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit, perceived barriers, perceived seriousness, and subjective norm. It is also found that knowledge of legal requirements, knowledge of use as well as attitude all have a positive influence on behavioural intentions towards use of child car restraints.
M.Com. (Marketing Management)