Influence mechanism of commuter’s low-carbon literacy on the intention of mode choice: a case study in Shanghai, China

Abstract

Predicting the intention of mode choice is indispensable for policymakers to develop sustainable transportation in large cities. This paper constructs a conceptual framework and tests it in the travel mode sector to investigate the influence mechanism between commuter’s low-carbon literacy and intention of mode choice. Commuter’s low-carbon literacy (LCL) was assessed through four critical attributes: low-carbon knowledge (LCK), low-carbon awareness (LCAW), low-carbon habits (LCH) and low-carbon affection (LCAF). Based on a questionnaire survey in Shanghai, empirical evidence was concluded using the Structural Equation Model of Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM). The results of this study are as follows: (1) low-carbon knowledge, habits and affection have direct influences on commuter’s intention of mode choice, whereas low-carbon awareness influences commuter’s intention through these three low-carbon attributes indirectly; (2) low-carbon affection has the highest impact rating on the intention of mode choice in both performance and importance; (3) commuting trips are less closely associated with the influence of low-carbon literacy than other trips. These findings have several implications for transportation demand management and are beneficial for urban trip structure optimization.