Integration of theory of planned behavior into actual social distancing behavior amid Covid-19

In the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most effective way to minimize the COVID risk was maintaining ‘social distancing.’ In places, where vaccinations are still not easily accessible, this is still the most valid preventive measure. This work investigated whether attitude, subjective norm, behavioral control, behavioral intention to social distancing (SD) and actual maintenance of social distancing using the theory of planned behavior framework. The present study applied a deductive reasoning approach to applying the SPSS tool for quantitative techniques. Three hundred thirty-one people participated in a self-administered survey, which was utilized to gather data. The study found significant correlations among attitude to SD, subjective norms, behavioral control of SD, intention to SD and actual social distancing. In logistic regression analysis, behavioral control and intention to social distance profoundly affect the actual use of social distancing except for attitude and subjective norms. Given the data, the TPB model's goodness of fit and accuracy indices based on log-linear ratio, Cox and Snell's and Nagelkerke's R2 is 22.47%, 26.69%, and 35.64%, respectively. The insights generated will help public health policymakers in improving attitudes, subjective norms, and behavioral intentions to enhance social distancing in epidemic crises.