IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/transp/v46y2019i2d10.1007_s11116-018-9936-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nudging people towards more sustainable residential choice decisions: an intervention based on focalism and visualization

Author

Listed:
  • Abhinav Bhattacharyya

    (University of California Berkeley)

  • Wen Jin

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Caroline Floch

    (University of California Berkeley)

  • Daniel G. Chatman

    (University of California Berkeley)

  • Joan L. Walker

    (University of California Berkeley)

Abstract

There have been numerous behavior change studies focused on sustainable travel mode choices. In this study we focused on the residential choices that in turn influence travel habits. We designed and implemented two interventions, which we term the “focalism” and “visualization” interventions, based on literature in psychological economics. The focalism intervention was motivated by literature that suggests people make suboptimal choices when looking for a new home. While focus is given to immediately tangible features like the quality of the house, important but less tangible factors like access to transportation are relatively overlooked. The visualization intervention was based on literature showing that providing information at decision points when long-ingrained habits are vulnerable to change, such as at the time of a residential move, can be influential on choices. We designed both interventions to be interactive so that the intervention was “discovered” by respondents rather than presented directly as information. With the focalism intervention, we pointed out differences in how respondents ranked their search priorities for new housing and neighborhoods, versus how they ranked what they reported makes them happy. With the visualization intervention, we explained to respondents that moving is an opportunity to make changes in one’s life, and we prompted them to think through what they desired to change. We evaluated the influence of these interventions on residential housing decisions by surveying respondents about their priorities in residential search before and after the interventions, and by collecting information about their housing, neighborhoods, travel patterns, and reported well-being. The surveys were web-based, with one survey conducted before respondents moved and a second survey conducted afterward. Participants were randomly assigned to a focalism treatment group, a visualization treatment group, or a control group. 380 respondents answered the pre-move survey, and 184 of these answered the post-move survey. In the pre-move survey, we found that both the focalism and visualization interventions resulted in a significant increase in the fraction of people who planned to travel more sustainably relative to the control group. More importantly, we found that after the post-move survey, respondents in the focalism group, but not the visualization group, significantly reduced their travel time to work and increased their cycling, walking, carpooling, carsharing and transit use in comparison to the control group. Meanwhile, those in the visualization treatment group had significantly higher reported well-being after the move; those in the focalism treatment group also improved their stated well-being, though less significantly; and there was no change in the control group. These results suggest that it might be relatively easy to nudge residential choices towards both more sustainable travel and greater well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Abhinav Bhattacharyya & Wen Jin & Caroline Floch & Daniel G. Chatman & Joan L. Walker, 2019. "Nudging people towards more sustainable residential choice decisions: an intervention based on focalism and visualization," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 373-393, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:46:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11116-018-9936-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11116-018-9936-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11116-018-9936-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11116-018-9936-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jariyasunant, Jerald & Carrel, Andre & Ekambaram, Venkatesan & Gaker, DJ & Kote, Thejovardhana & Sengupta, Raja & Walker, Joan L., 2011. "The Quantified Traveler: Using personal travel data to promote sustainable transport behavior," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt9jg0p1rj, University of California Transportation Center.
    2. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    3. Fujii, Satoshi & Taniguchi, Ayako, 2006. "Determinants of the effectiveness of travel feedback programs--a review of communicative mobility management measures for changing travel behaviour in Japan," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 339-348, September.
    4. Berke, E.M. & Koepsell, T.D. & Moudon, A.V. & Hoskins, R.E. & Larson, E.B., 2007. "Association of the built environment with physical activity and obesity in older persons," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(3), pages 486-492.
    5. Comerford, David A., 2011. "Attenuating focalism in affective forecasts of the commuting experience: Implications for economic decisions and policy making," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 691-699.
    6. Jariyasunant, Jerald & Carrel, Andre & Ekambaram, Venkatesan & Gaker, DJ & Kote, Thejovardhana & Sengupta, Raja & Walker, Joan L., 2011. "The Quantified Traveler: Using personal travel data to promote sustainable transport behavior," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt678537sx, University of California Transportation Center.
    7. Chatman, Daniel G., 2008. "Deconstructing development density: Quality, quantity and price effects on household non-work travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1008-1030, August.
    8. Ben-Elia, Eran & Ettema, Dick, 2009. "Carrots versus sticks: Rewarding commuters for avoiding the rush-hour--a study of willingness to participate," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 68-76, March.
    9. Daniel G Chatman, 2009. "Residential Choice, the Built Environment, and Nonwork Travel: Evidence Using New Data and Methods," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(5), pages 1072-1089, May.
    10. Handy, Susan & Cao, Xinyu & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2005. "Correlation or causality between the built environment and travel behavior? Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5b76c5kg, University of California Transportation Center.
    11. Daniel A Rodriguez & Jennifer Rogers, 2014. "Can Housing and Accessibility Information Influence Residential Location Choice and Travel Behavior? An Experimental Study," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 41(3), pages 534-550, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Richard Larouche & Ulises Charles Rodriguez & Ransimala Nayakarathna & David R. Scott, 2020. "Effect of Major Life Events on Travel Behaviours: A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Rashidi, Taha Hossein & Waller, Travis & Axhausen, Kay, 2020. "Reduced value of time for autonomous vehicle users: Myth or reality?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 30-36.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Yan & Wang, Siqin & Xie, Bin, 2019. "Evaluating the effects of public transport fare policy change together with built and non-built environment features on ridership: The case in South East Queensland, Australia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 78-89.
    2. van de Coevering, Paul & Maat, Kees & van Wee, Bert, 2018. "Residential self-selection, reverse causality and residential dissonance. A latent class transition model of interactions between the built environment, travel attitudes and travel behavior," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 466-479.
    3. Lin, Tao & Wang, Donggen & Guan, Xiaodong, 2017. "The built environment, travel attitude, and travel behavior: Residential self-selection or residential determination?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 111-122.
    4. Thomas Klinger & Martin Lanzendorf, 2016. "Moving between mobility cultures: what affects the travel behavior of new residents?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 243-271, March.
    5. van Wee, Bert & De Vos, Jonas & Maat, Kees, 2019. "Impacts of the built environment and travel behaviour on attitudes: Theories underpinning the reverse causality hypothesis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.
    7. De Vos, Jonas & Ettema, Dick & Witlox, Frank, 2018. "Changing travel behaviour and attitudes following a residential relocation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-147.
    8. Donggen Wang & Tao Lin, 2019. "Built environment, travel behavior, and residential self-selection: a study based on panel data from Beijing, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 51-74, February.
    9. Ao, Yibin & Yang, Dujuan & Chen, Chuan & Wang, Yan, 2019. "Exploring the effects of the rural built environment on household car ownership after controlling for preference and attitude: Evidence from Sichuan, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 24-36.
    10. Cao, Xinyu Jason, 2019. "Examining the effect of the Hiawatha LRT on auto use in the Twin Cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 284-292.
    11. Etminani-Ghasrodashti, Roya & Ardeshiri, Mahyar, 2015. "Modeling travel behavior by the structural relationships between lifestyle, built environment and non-working trips," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 506-518.
    12. Arefeh Nasri & Carlos Carrion & Lei Zhang & Babak Baghaei, 2020. "Using propensity score matching technique to address self-selection in transit-oriented development (TOD) areas," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 359-371, February.
    13. Huang, Xiaoyan & (Jason) Cao, Xinyu & Yin, Jiangbin & Cao, Xiaoshu, 2019. "Can metro transit reduce driving? Evidence from Xi'an, China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 350-359.
    14. Yibin Ao & Chuan Chen & Dujuan Yang & Yan Wang, 2018. "Relationship between Rural Built Environment and Household Vehicle Ownership: An Empirical Analysis in Rural Sichuan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Lee, Changyeon, 2020. "Impacts of two-scale urban form and their combined effects on commute modes in U.S. metropolitan areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    16. Ding, Chuan & Wang, Donggen & Liu, Chao & Zhang, Yi & Yang, Jiawen, 2017. "Exploring the influence of built environment on travel mode choice considering the mediating effects of car ownership and travel distance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 65-80.
    17. Van Acker, Veronique & Ho, Loan & Stevens, Larissa & Mulley, Corinne, 2020. "Quantifying the effects of childhood and previous residential experiences on the use of public transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.
    19. Chetan Doddamani & M. Manoj, 2023. "Analysis of the influences of built environment measures on household car and motorcycle ownership decisions in Hubli-Dharwad cities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 205-243, February.
    20. Dick Ettema, 2018. "Apps, activities and travel: an conceptual exploration based on activity theory," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 273-290, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:transp:v:46:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11116-018-9936-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.