IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i2p216-d128952.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intention for Car Use Reduction: Applying a Stage-Based Model

Author

Listed:
  • Lars E. Olsson

    (CTF Service Research Center and Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, SE-65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Jana Huck

    (CTF Service Research Center and Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, SE-65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Margareta Friman

    (CTF Service Research Center and Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, SE-65188 Karlstad, Sweden)

Abstract

This study investigates which variables drive intention to reduce car use by modelling a stage of change construct with mechanisms in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Norm Activation Model (NAM). Web questionnaires ( n = 794) were collected via 11 workplaces. The socio-demographics, work commute, stage of change, attitudes to sustainable travel modes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and personal norm were assessed. An initial descriptive analysis revealed that 19% of the employees saw no reason to reduce their car use; 35% would like to reduce their car use but felt it was impossible; 12% were thinking about reducing their car use but were unsure of how or when to do this; 12% had an aim to reduce current car use, and knew which journeys to replace and which modes to use; and 23% try to use modes other than a car for most journeys, and will maintain or reduce their already low car use in the coming months. A series of Ordered Logit Models showed that socio-demographic variables did not explain the stage of change. Instead, personal norms, instrumental and affective attitudes, and perceived behavioral control toward sustainable travel modes were all significant and explained 43% of the variance in stage of change. Furthermore, it was found that the significant relationships were not linear in nature. The analysis also showed an indirect effect of social norms on the stage of change through personal norms. Implications are discussed regarding the design of interventions aimed at influencing a sustainable work commute.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars E. Olsson & Jana Huck & Margareta Friman, 2018. "Intention for Car Use Reduction: Applying a Stage-Based Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:2:p:216-:d:128952
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/2/216/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/2/216/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bamberg, Sebastian & Fujii, Satoshi & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy, 2011. "Behaviour theory and soft transport policy measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 228-235, January.
    2. Biel, Anders & Thogersen, John, 2007. "Activation of social norms in social dilemmas: A review of the evidence and reflections on the implications for environmental behaviour," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 93-112, January.
    3. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    4. Margareta Friman & Jana Huck & Lars E. Olsson, 2017. "Transtheoretical Model of Change during Travel Behavior Interventions: An Integrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Gatersleben, Birgitta & Appleton, Katherine M., 2007. "Contemplating cycling to work: Attitudes and perceptions in different stages of change," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 302-312, May.
    6. Yuwei Liu & Hong Sheng & Norbert Mundorf & Colleen Redding & Yinjiao Ye, 2017. "Integrating Norm Activation Model and Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Sustainable Transport Behavior: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Christin Hoffmann & Charles Abraham & Mathew P. White & Susan Ball & Stephen M. Skippon, 2017. "What cognitive mechanisms predict travel mode choice? A systematic review with meta-analysis," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(5), pages 631-652, September.
    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. Norbert Mundorf & Colleen A. Redding & Songtao Bao, 2018. "Sustainable Transportation and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-4, March.
    2. Song-Lin Wong & Cheng-Chin Hsu & Han-Shen Chen, 2018. "To Buy or Not to Buy? Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Intentions for Suboptimal Food," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Li, Xintong & Han, Chunyang & Huang, Helai & Pervez, Amjad & Xu, Guangming & Hu, Cheng & Jiang, Qianshan & Wei, Yulu, 2023. "Pursuing higher acceptability and compliance for electric two-wheeler standardization policy in China: The importance of socio-demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and travel habits," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Marc Schabka & Aurelia Kammerhofer & Valerie Batiajew & Maria Juschten, 2022. "Driving Forces and Barriers for the Implementation of Mobility Services in Austria—A Practitioner Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-26, September.

    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. Acheampong, Ransford A. & Siiba, Alhassan, 2018. "Examining the determinants of utility bicycling using a socio-ecological framework: An exploratory study of the Tamale Metropolis in Northern Ghana," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-10.
    2. Barr, Stewart & Lampkin, Sal & Dawkins, Laura & Williamson, Daniel, 2022. "‘I feel the weather and you just know’. Narrating the dynamics of commuter mobility choices," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    3. Andreas Blitz & Annika Busch-Geertsema & Martin Lanzendorf, 2020. "More Cycling, Less Driving? Findings of a Cycle Street Intervention Study in the Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-25, January.
    4. Mundaca, Luis & Román-Collado, Rocío & Cansino, José M., 2022. "Assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Muhammad Ahmad Al-Rashid & Muhammad Nadeem & Tiziana Campisi & Yong Adilah Shamsul Harumain & Hong Ching Goh, 2022. "How Do Psychosocial Barriers Shape Public Transport Use? A Mixed-Method Study among Older Adults in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Maria Andersson & Ola Eriksson & Chris Von Borgstede, 2012. "The Effects of Environmental Management Systems on Source Separation in the Work and Home Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(6), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    8. Edmond Daramy-Williams & Jillian Anable & Susan Grant-Muller, 2019. "Car Use: Intentional, Habitual, or Both? Insights from Anscombe and the Mobility Biography Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Verma, Meghna & Rahul, T.M. & Reddy, Peesari Vamshidhar & Verma, Ashish, 2016. "The factors influencing bicycling in the Bangalore city," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 29-40.
    10. Maria Rodrigues & João F. Proença & Rita Macedo, 2023. "Determinants of the Purchase of Secondhand Products: An Approach by the Theory of Planned Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-18, July.
    11. Bamberg, Sebastian & Fujii, Satoshi & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy, 2011. "Behaviour theory and soft transport policy measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 228-235, January.
    12. Sonja E. Forward, 2019. "Views on Public Transport and How Personal Experiences Can Contribute to a More Positive Attitude and Behavioural Change," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, February.
    13. Lisa Dang & Widar von Arx, 2021. "How Can Rail Use for Leisure and Tourism Be Promoted? Using Leisure and Mobility Orientations to Segment Swiss Railway Customers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    14. Hsieh, Hsu-Sheng, 2020. "Transport policy evaluation based on elasticity analysis with social interactions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 273-296.
    15. Matt Biggar, 2019. "Unpacking the influence of social norms and past experience on commute mode choice," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(1).
    16. Jingjing Wang & Mingyue Li & Sinan Li & Kai Chen, 2022. "Understanding Consumers’ Food Waste Reduction Behavior—A Study Based on Extended Norm Activation Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Briguglio, Marie & Delaney, Liam & Wood, Alex, 2018. "Partisanship, priming and participation in public-good schemes," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 136-150.
    18. Corradi, Nicola & Priftis, Konstantinos & Jacucci, Giulio & Gamberini, Luciano, 2013. "Oops, I forgot the light on! The cognitive mechanisms supporting the execution of energy saving behaviors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 88-96.
    19. Johan Jansson, 2011. "Consumer eco‐innovation adoption: assessing attitudinal factors and perceived product characteristics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 192-210, March.
    20. Costanza Nosi & Antonella D’Agostino & Margherita Pagliuca & Carlo Alberto Pratesi, 2017. "Securing Retirement at a Young Age. Exploring the Intention to Buy Longevity Annuities through an Extended Version of the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-20, June.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:2:p:216-:d:128952. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.