Social Norms as Incentives to Non-automotive Travel Behavior
Research exploring the behavioral dimensions that drive travel ((1–3) has shown that social and psychological forces often play a role equal to price and economic levers (4–11). Yet, more work is needed to evaluate how financial vs. social nudges work together to influence active transportation decisions. For this study, roughly 500 participants were offered differing incentives in four identical trials. These randomly assigned incentives included various monetary amounts, a free gift, or a social nudge tapping into altruistic values (in this case, benefits to the environment). After tests for homogeneity, the results showed the social nudge had a high degree of effectiveness, when compared to both the financial incentives and gifts. Furthermore, the results indicated that mixing financial and social norms caused both to be less effective. These findings suggest that fiscal incentive programs used to influence travel decisions may be lacking. In fact, this research suggests a focus on social norms and value provides alternative tools to facilitate greater changes in travel behaviors that nudge individuals to more healthy and climate- sensitive modes of travel.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD20 Standing Committee on Social and Economic Factors of Transportation.
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Corporate Authors:
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Authors:
- Riggs, William
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
- Date: 2017
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 14p
- Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Economic and social factors; Nonmotorized transportation; Travel behavior; Travel demand management
- Uncontrolled Terms: Social norms
- Subject Areas: Economics; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01623311
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 17-01010
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Jan 24 2017 3:31PM