Engaging in Pro-Environment Travel Behaviour Research from a Psycho-Social Perspective: A Review of Behavioural Variables and Theories

Abstract

This paper aims to review variables and behavioural theories originating from social and environmental psychology as applied to transport research, to better understand decision-making mechanisms, information processing and modal choice. The first section provides an overview of the main psycho-social variables which explain behaviour and, notably, pro-environment behaviour. The analysis shows the relations among variables, highlighting some potential cause-effect mechanism or, at least, the influence that such variables can have on behaviour. Furthermore, the strengths and weaknesses of using psycho-social variables to predict travel behaviour are discussed. Such analysis feeds the section related to the behavioural theories. These are reviewed with a focus on potential application to transport sector, showing the would-be added value of introducing a socio-psychological approach in the current vision, focused on stochastic models based on maximisation of personal utility. To this end, attention is paid to the data collection and analysis, basic for any models and even more challenging to collect when they deal with personal characteristics of individuals. Finally, the concept of attitude and intention is discussed, opening the doors between disciplines to overcome the attitude-behaviour gap.

Protection motivation theory and pro‐environmental behaviour: A systematic mapping review

“…In parallel, a number of researchers have sought to identify theories that are of particular relevance to understanding pro‐environmental behaviours and to designing and evaluating persuasive messages that seek to increase engagement in such behaviours (Nisbet & Gick, ; Pronello & Gaborieau, ). Such reviews have tended to take the form of a narrative discussion of theories that may be conceptually relevant to this domain rather than a systematic review of the body of evidence using any given theory.…”

“…PMT has since been applied to behaviours outside of a health context such as parenting (Campis, Prentice‐Dunn, & Lyman, ), tourism (Horng, Hu, Teng, & Lin, ), information security (Lebek, Uffen, Neumann, Hohler, & Breitner, ), and disaster preparedness (Bubeck, Wouter Botzen, Laudan, Aerts, & Thieken, ). Researchers have repeatedly argued that PMT is an effective model understanding and promoting engagement in pro‐environmental behaviours (Cismaru et al, ; Nelson et al, ; Pronello & Gaborieau, ).…”

Investigating the Link between Transport Sustainability and the Representation of Women in Swedish Local Committees

“…This is also in line with the results of Farrell and Titcombe [111], who reported the experiences of elected local officials in Wales and described the culture and ways of running offices as less appealing to women. The effect of female representatives might also be overruled by an attitude/intention-behavioral gap, as discussed among others by Pronello and Gaborieau [112]. Yet another explanation for representation not showing any correlation with sustainability outcomes could be that, since gender equality is a target in Swedish national policy, representation might not be as important for sustainability outcomes.…”

Interactions and Relationships between Personal Factors in Pro-Environmental Golf Tourist Behaviour: A Gender Analysis

“…In this sense, habit strength is the degree of automaticity a behaviour has in a given stable situation [45]. The environmental attitude-behaviour gap is frequently studied in the literature [22,30,[82][83][84][85][86]. However, the relationship between environmental habits and attitude or behaviour has received marginal attention.…”