Explaining sustainable purchase behavior in online flight booking—combining value-belief-norm model and theory of planned behavior

Abstract

AbstractThis article of the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. focuses on the factors that influence CO2 offsetting behavior when booking flights. By combining the Value Belief Norm model (VBN) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the study investigates which factors generally influence people’s willingness and behavior to make CO2 offsets for air travel. In addition, a concrete booking process is used to experimentally test how high the actual willingness to pay is in this situation and how much it depends on the representation. An online survey with a partially experimental design yielded 514 usable data sets. The results of the structural equation model essentially confirmed the assumptions of the VBN and TPB theories regarding the influence on compensation behavior, with the personal norm being the most important influencing factor. However, the specific fictitious booking process revealed the special role of price: the cheapest compensation packages always had the highest choice probabilities, and absolute price did not play a role. This was confirmed in qualitative analyses. The results expand previous knowledge on factors influencing CO2 compensation behavior and provide flight providers with important information for designing their CO2 compensation offers.