Examining Teachers' Intentions to Intervene: Developing a Contextual Resource for Cyberbullying Intervention in India

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2016-08-18

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Abstract

This study examined the intention of teachers to intervene in cyberbullying situation when they encounter it at school by utilizing the theory of planned behavior (TPB). It investigated how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and perceived responsibility affects the teachers' intention to intervene. Questionnaire in a paper pencil format was used to collect the data from teachers in Indian schools during January-March 2016. Hierarchical regression was conducted to assess the proposed independent variables predicting the teachers’ intention to intervene. The results found that the theory of planned behavior (TPB) proves to be a strong and appropriate model to predict the teacher’s intention to intervene in cyberbullying at schools in India. All the main TPB predictor variables - attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control significantly influenced the teachers’ intention to intervene. All the variables collectively explained 40.9 % of the variance in the intention to intervene. Perceived responsibility also added a small but significant variance to the TPB model, 2.7%. Of all the predictor variables, attitude was the strongest predictor of the teachers’ intention. Moreover, the study has identified the specific underlying cognitive beliefs, determining the attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, which indirectly influences the teachers’ intention to intervene. This formative research provides a good resource to design future school-based interventions with an aim to prepare teachers to mediate the impact of cyberbullying on students in India. Overall, the results produced important insights about teachers’ attitudes, perceptions and beliefs towards intervening in cyberbullying in India.

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Keywords

Cyberbullying, India, Theory of planned behavior, Interventions

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