Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 16, No. 3, 2024 196 An Application of The Theory of Planned Behaviour: Factors Influencing Parental Decision on Children Involvment in Out-Of-School Music Education Dandan Peng 1, 2, *, Ooi Boon Keat 3 1 Graduate School of Management, Management and Science University, 40100 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 2 School of Music, Shangqiu Normal University, Henan, China 3 School of Education and Social Sciences, Management and Science University, University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13, 40100, Selangor, Malaysia * Corresponding author: Dandan Peng Abstract: In China's music education and training industry, the exploration of parents' and children's educational decisions on the demand side of the market is crucial to the healthy functioning of the music education market. The current study applies TPB theory and modelling to investigate the factors influencing parental decision-making in children's out-of-school music education participation. The study was conducted in Henan Province, China, with a sample of 650 parents from 21 music education institutions in seven cities in Henan Province. The results of data analyses showed that parental ATT, SN, and PBC all had significant positive effects on PI. PBC directly affected PD, while PI was the most significant influence on PD. Keywords: Out-of-school Music Education, Parental Decision, Theory of Planned Behaviour. 1. Introduction In today's household investment in education, in addition to the test-based education necessary for survival, more and more Chinese parents are beginning to pay attention to personalised quality education areas such as artistic cultivation, broadening of interests, and development of personality, in addition to subject-based education (Chen & Yan, 2021). Among them, music education has also become an important aspect of Chinese parents' investment for their children. With the development of the education market, the supply of educational products and services is no longer confined to the traditional internal school, but has shifted to a dual allocation mechanism of education supply, both in- school and out-of-school marketised (Li, 2021). Understanding the factors that influence the educational decisions of parents and children, who are on the demand side of the market, is crucial to the healthy functioning of the music education market. How does the decision-making behaviour of parents in choosing out-of-school music education for their children occur, what factors influence this behaviour, and what are the influencing mechanisms? It is worthwhile for operators and administrators of music education institutions to understand, and for researchers of music educators to pay attention to the subject. However, current research on parental decision on children's involvement in out-of-school music education is scarce. In order to bridge this gap, this study will explore the influencing factors of parental educational participation decision-making through a survey of parents in Henan Province, China. 2. The Review of Literature Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) In 1991, American scholar Ajzen proposed the theory of planned behaviour on the basis of Theory of Reasoned Action. The Theory of Planned Behaviour holds that individuals' behaviour is determined by their behavioural attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intentions. The theory provides a detailed explanation of the relationship between these five variables: behavioural attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control interact with each other and ultimately affect behavioural intention, and these three factors are positively correlated with behavioural intention. Intention to behaviour is the most direct factor influencing behaviour. Currently the Theory of Planned Behaviour, as a social psychological theory used to explain individual decision- making processes, has been widely used in research in a wide variety of social behavioural domains. A number of studies have validated the predictive and explanatory power of the theory of planned behaviour on people's behavioural intentions as well as actual behaviour (Mao, 2023; Brian& Achmad, 2023; Sun & Zhang, 2022; Yadav, Kar & Rai, 2022; Castillo, Armas & Taño, 2021; García, Saura, Orejuela & Junior, 2020). 3. The Conceptual Framework and Research Hypotheses In the current study, attitudes are expressed as parents' positive or negative affective dispositions towards their children's out-of-school music learning. Subjective norms refer to parents' perceptions of how influential people in their neighbourhood perceive them to behave. Perceived behavioural control refers to parents' self-perceptions about their ability to successfully support their children's music learning. Intention refers to how much parents want to perform behaviours that support their child's participation in music education outside of school. The Decision Behaviour is the behaviour of parents who actually enrol their child in a curriculum. 197 Figure1. Conceptual Framework Source: Developed by the Author According to TPB theory, parental decision-making behaviour is determined by a combination of their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and behavioural intentions regarding their children's participation in out-of-school music education. Therefore, the hypothesis of the current study is proposed: H1: There is a relationship between attidute and parental intention on children involvement in out-of-school music education. H2: There is a relationship between subjective norm and parental intention on children involvement in out-of-school music education. H3: There is a relationship between perceived behavioral control and parental intention on children involvement in out- of-school music education. H4: There is a relationship between perceived behavioral control and parental decision on children involvement out-of- school music education. H5: There is a relationship between parental intention and parental decision on children invovlvement in out-of-school music education. 4. Research Methodology This study used quantitative research methods to collect primary data through a structured questionnaire. The goal of the study is to examine what factors influence parental decision on children's involvement in out-of-school music education. The current study was conducted in Henan Province, China, with the main area of research being the music education market. Considering the vast geographical area of Henan Province and the complexity of the music education market, the researcher used multi-stage sampling and systematic sampling in the survey. In the data processing and analysis phase, the collected data were statistically analysed and hypotheses were tested mainly using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 24.0. 5. Findings The formal research for this study was carried out in 21 music education institutions in seven cities in Henan Province, and the data were collected by means of a web-based electronic questionnaire. A total of 650 questionnaires were distributed, and 523 questionnaires were finally determined to be valid, with a validity rate of 80.5%. 5.1. Demographic Information and Descriptive Statistics The results of the survey show that, in terms of gender, 79.92 per cent of the respondents were women. In terms of age distribution, the group of 31-40 years old accounted for 43.40 per cent. In terms of education level, respondents with bachelor's degree are the most numerous, accounting for 30.21 per cent. Occupational distribution shows that professional technicians or managers account for 23.33%. In terms of monthly household income, the income group of 10001 - 20000 RMB accounted for the highest proportion of 37.67%. The data results reflect the diversity and overall representativeness of the survey sample. As can be seen from Table 1, the mean values of the variables tested were 3.879-4.015. The standard deviations were 0.838-1.019. The data revealed a concentrated trend and variability in the participants' attitudes and perceptions on the different dimensions. Table 1. Statistical table of demographic information Variables N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard deviation ATT 523 1.67 5 4.008 0.881 SN 523 1.5 5 4.016 0.838 PBC 523 1.33 5 3.879 1.008 PI 523 1.4 5 3.977 0.884 PD 523 1 5 3.925 1.019 5.2. Reliability and Validity Analysis The five constructs ATT, SN, PBC, PI, and PD were tested for reliability and validity, and the results showed a KMO value of 0.933, which is greater than 0.7, and a Bartlett's test approximate chi-square value of 7799.677, with a p close to 0. This suggests that the sample data is suitable for factor analysis and has a high degree of structural validity. Cronbach's α was used to assess the reliability of the variables and it is shown in Table 2 that the reliability values of all the variables ranged from 0.8 to 0.9 indicating that the scales had good reliability. The AVE values were all greater than 0.5 indicating that the convergent validity was good (Aazh et al., 2021). Combined reliability (CR) values were all greater than 0.7, indicating good internal consistency of the scale (Sürcü & Maslakçi, 2020). 198 Table 2. Reliability and validity Name Cronbach's Alpha AVE CR ATT 0.876 0.541 0.876 SN 0.860 0.511 0.862 PBC 0.908 0.621 0.908 PI 0.845 0.522 0.845 PD 0.873 0.632 0.873 5.3. Structural Models and Hypothesis Testing The structural equation model (SEM) for this study is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Structural model Statistical indicators of the fit of the structural equation model are shown in Table3: Table 3. Goodness-of-fit metrics Goodness-of- fit metrics Judgement Criteria Model results Whether the criteria are met CMIN/ DF <3 2.565 Yes RMSEA <0.10 0.055 Yes CFI >0.90 0.935 Yes IFI >0.90 0.935 Yes TLI >0.90 0.928 Yes The results showed that CMIN/DF = 2.565, IFI = 0.935, CFI = 0.935, TLI = 0.928, and RMSEA = 0.055. The overall model and data fit in this study met the criteria proposed by Hu & Bentler (1998, 1999). The results of the hypothetical path test in Table 4 show the effects between the variables. Table 4. Hypothesis Testing Paths Estimate S.E. C.R. P Result H1: PI<---ATT 0.261 0.044 5.323 *** Supported H2: PI<---SN 0.351 0.041 7.084 *** Supported H3: PI<---PBC 0.359 0.042 6.369 *** Supported H3: PD<--- PBC 0.294 0.060 4.912 *** Supported H5: PD<---PI 0.446 0.089 6.828 *** Supported The data showed that ATT, SN, and PBC all had a significant positive effect on PI. PBC had the greatest effect on PI. The data results supported H1, H2, H3. also, PBC and PI had a direct effect on PD and PI had more explanatory power (Estimate=0.446). The results supported H4, H5. 6. Discussion and Conclusion The results of the data analysis explain the factors influencing parental educational decision making. The results showed that parental attitudes towards their children's music learning, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control positively influence parental educational intention, and perceived behavioural control directly influences parental decisions, while parental intention is the most significant influence on parental decisions. This finding is in line with the findings of many previous studies. Rodrigues, Proença& Macedo (2023) in their study concluded that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control positively and positively influence consumption intention. Mao (2023) concluded that ATT, SN, and PBC positively and significantly influence purchase intention, and their influences are ranked as PBC > ATT > SN. Liu (2020) study focused on the influences of children's programming education participation behavioural intentions. Attitude can be a good predictor of children's programming education participation behavioural intention. Yusoff, Mohamed, Mohamed & Muin (2022) stated that ATT, SN and PBC have a significant effect on the respondents' willingness to enrol in educational curriculum offered by UiTM. The most important factor was PBC, followed by ATT and SN. Castillo, 199 Armas& Taño (2021) reported that PBC was the most important influence on consumer behaviour. Qiannan Zhang (2020) reported proved that willingness had the largest total and direct effect on parents' consumption decision-making behaviour. Peixin Li (2023) also reported the finding that consumption intention significantly and positively influences consumption decision-making behaviour. In the current study, the most influential factor on parents' educational intention was PBC. this means that parents are more likely to form positive intentions to participate and thus achieve decision-making behaviours when they feel that they are in control of the educational process and outcomes. This was followed by SN and ATT, while parental intention was the most direct and powerful influence on parental decisions, suggesting that when parents form positive intentions to participate in education, they are more likely to translate such intentions into actual educational decisions. This intention reflects parental commitment to education and expectations for their children's future, and is a key factor in driving their involvement in the educational process. 7. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research Due to the constraints of the level of research, research funding, and the research environment, only a single quantitative research approach was used in this study in terms of research methodology. A single quantitative study may oversimplify complex phenomena as well as rely on predefined categories and measurements. And quantitative research may not fully capture the impact of contextual factors such as culture, history or environment on the research topic. Mixed methods can solve problems that cannot be solved by purely qualitative and quantitative research methods, and by integrating the use of quantitative data and qualitative text, researchers are able to gain a clearer understanding of the research questions (Xu, 2019), thus improving the quality of the research. Therefore, in future research on parental decision, we will consider the use of mixed research methods and adopt more advanced and diversified research methods to conduct relevant studies. In order to deepen the research on parental decision on music education and promote the healthy operation of the out-of-school music education market. References [1] Aazh, H., Danesh, A. A., & Moore, B. C. (2021). Internal consistency and convergent validity of the inventory of hyperacusis symptoms. Ear and Hearing, 42(4), 917-926. [2] Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50, 179-211 [3] Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). 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