| The practice of engineering is an increasingly important function in the U.S. Navy due to increasing reliance upon advanced technologies as a means to deliver affordable solutions to national defense needs within the maritime domain. Academic literature portrays contemporary business organizations, such as the U.S. Navy, as complex social systems in which social influences between individuals have significant potential to induce a variety of behaviors. Such behaviors include individuals responsible for engineering decision-making acting based upon the social influences of others, rather than relying upon their own best judgment and adherence to sound engineering principles, standards, and practices. This study added to the literature by exploring the application of the theory of planned behavior to predicting engineers' decision-making behavioral intentions. This study tested for statistically significant relationships between an individual's attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control and his or her future engineering decision-making behavioral intentions. This study also tested for statistically significant relationships between an individual's past engineering decision-making behavior and future engineering decision-making behavioral intentions. Results were presented indicating that attitude and social norms were statistically significant, but weak predictors, and perceived behavioral control was not a statistically significant predictor of future engineering decision-making intentions. Results were also presented that indicated past decision-making behavior was a statistically significant and moderately strong predictor of future engineering decision-making intentions. |
