“Hello, this is DBS.”: Investigating the role of the theory of planned behaviour in predicting the intention to report scams

Abstract

Scam reporting rates have been found to be low with only 38% of scam victims making a police report in Singapore. Therefore, it is important to investigate the various factors that may influence one’s intention to report scams to the police to improve the “reporting gap”. Although there has been substantial research focusing on the factors that influence one’s intention to report scams, these studies do not rely on a behavioural theory. The current study uses the well-established Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict the intention to report scam calls to the police. This study hypothesised that the three pre-intentional factors of the TPB (i.e. scam victims’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control) are associated with the intention to report scam calls with monetary loss. 86 participants completed a questionnaire where they had to imagine being a victim of scam calls with a monetary loss of $1000. Results from the three separate logistic regressions revealed that more positive attitudes, more favourable subjective norms, and higher perceived behavioural control of scam calls were each associated with higher intention to report scam calls. Further analysis found that perceived behavioural control was most strongly associated with the intention to report scam calls, followed by subjective norms and attitudes. This study expands the use of the TPB in predicting the intention to report scams and sheds light on how law enforcement agencies and authorities may align their future policies and initiatives with the TPB factors to improve scam reporting and policing.