Young People’s Behavioral Intentions towards Low-Carbon Travel: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

With the rapid development of China’s economy and the rapid growth of the population, the demand for traffic is gradually changing from slow to fast, and the traffic congestion, air pollution, climate change and public health problems are becoming increasingly prominent. As residents’ willingness for low-carbon travel plays a crucial role in alleviating the problems caused by traffic, many studies pay attention to this aspect, but young people are still an obviously neglected group in the study of willingness for low-carbon travel. The novelty of this study lies in the extension of environmental concern and perceived moral obligation to the theory of planned behavior to explore the factors influencing young people’s low-carbon travel behavioral intention. The structural equation modeling is validated with a sample of 235 young respondents. The results show that attitude, perceived behavior control, environmental concern and perceived moral obligation have a significant positive correlation with young people’s low-carbon travel behavioral intention, while subjective norm has not. By revealing young people’s intention of low-carbon travel, this study could help to enhance the understanding of young people’s low-carbon travel choices, and could provide guidance for how to guide young people to choose low-carbon travel in the future.

How Tourists’ Perception Affects Travel Intention: Mechanism Pathways and Boundary Conditions

“… Boguszewicz-Kreft et al (2020) have verified the TPB model’s applicability to medical tourism and compared the differential willingness among consumers of different nationalities to use medical tourism services. Hu et al (2021) have found that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, environmental awareness, and perceived moral obligations are significantly and positively correlated with young people’s intent for low-carbon travel behavior, while subjective norms are not. Chen et al (2019) have applied TPB to a study of pro-environmental tourism behavior among urban residents, finding that intentions and habits are the key influential factors, while attitudes have the most significant impact on behavioral intention.…”

Diamond Model of Green Commitment and Low-Carbon Travel Motivation, Constraint, and Intention

“…Behavioral intention is the most important factor between an individual’s inner thoughts and actual actions and refers to the willingness of a person to perform a given behavior [ 15 , 43 ]. Hu, Wu and Chen [ 15 ] and Kuo and Dai [ 31 ] pointed out that the most important factor in determining an individual’s behavior is his or her intention to engage in the act. This view was confirmed by Shin and Kang [ 44 ] to protect environmental behavior.…”

“…Consumers’ green commitments to the environment is considered an important factor for predicting environmentally responsible behavior in traveling (Safari, Salehzadeh, Panahi and Abolghasemian [ 10 ]). Although some studies have been conducted in the field of tourists’ low-carbon travel behavior [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], additional empirical evidence is needed to be gathered before we can be sure of the causal impacts of the results. Especially, there is a need to focus on the mechanisms through which various personal and contextual antecedents influence tourists’ low-carbon travel behavior.…”

Edible Insects: How to Increase the Sustainable Consumption Behavior among Restaurant Consumers

“…In the study conducted by Eagly and Chaiken [ 46 ], attitude was explained as a function of individuals’ behavioral beliefs (BB) which reflect the perceived consequences or outcomes of the behavior and their assessment of the outcome evaluation (OE). That is, people generally evaluate the benefits and costs during their decision-making process whether to conduct a specific behavior or not [ 47 ]. Either a favorable or unfavorable attitude depends on their evaluation of consequences [ 20 , 26 , 48 ].…”

“…Hwang, Kim, et al [ 26 ] employed Ajzen’s TPB framework to comprehend individuals’ intention formation in the foodservice innovation, and their analysis results using 406 samples displayed the strong association between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions. Hu et al [ 47 ] studied younger generations’ decision making process in the tourism context, and their findings indicated that the perception of young people about their high ability of control over their behavior exerted a significant influence on their pro-environmental travel choice. Accordingly, it is anticipated that when individuals have confidence and proper resources in visiting restaurants offering foods made by edible insects, there are high possibilities that these individuals will visit an edible insect restaurant.…”