Abstract
Recent studies have shown that self-efficacy—the belief that individuals are able to execute behaviors that lead to desired outcomes—is a key factor for adopting more sustainable travel modes and practices. Also crucial are societal values and policies associated with sustainability, which guide individual mobility behaviors. Thus, sustainable travel research and policies are divided into hard and soft approaches. This study applies Albert Bandura’s concept of personal agency and his model of triadic reciprocal causation (TRC) to explore mobility as agency from the perspective of 32 car users from regions, which no longer have an adequate passenger rail infrastructure. The aim is to investigate the applicability of TRC theory in a US context, as well as a substantive study of how car users make sense of their mobility practices in relation to trains. Based on hermeneutic content analysis, a mixed-method analytic framework, findings reveal that Bandura’s agentive pathways associated with individual and proxy agency define the mobility practices of interviewees. By exploring the underlying structures of salient agentive pathways, this study traces the links between agency and (un)sustainable travel within a US American mobility culture.
Highlights
I’ve heard so many times that the reason we don’t have them is because we’re so big
To improve interpretation of the multidimensional scaling (MDS) results, the third step of hermeneutic content analysis (HCA) consists of a re-contextualization, where structures and patterns in the MDS map are interpreted with reference to the interview transcripts
The aim of the first analytic step was to connect Bandura’s tripartite model to the mobility experiences of interviewees. This entailed identifying mobility-related vignettes in the data and their coding according to agency and environment dimensions as proposed by Bandura, which included intentions, types of agency and environments, environmental facilitators and constraints, action potentials, and desired mobility outcomes
Summary
I’ve heard so many times that the reason we don’t have them is because we’re so big. And yet, all the rest of the world has trains and they’re used all the time. (12: 14)The main aim of sustainable travel is to reduce car use and to promote more sustainable modes of transportation [1,2,3,4]. Research and policies tend to focus on hard and soft approaches. Hard approaches emphasize structural and regulatory interventions, such as developing or improving public transport, creating bicycle infrastructure, introducing road-pricing initiatives, or providing monetary incentives (see for example [6,7,8,9]). These strategies aim to nudge people toward more sustainable mobility practices, which in turn are aimed at reducing car use [10]. Ce aprasrakreinsgy,ncohnyeampoupsewtriothl, caonmdfournt [i5v]e,rcsoanlv, ecnhieenacped[5r,i2v2e],rplliecaesnusrien, g are wideflryeevdieowme, dsaatissfaacntiaotnu,raanl drigsthatt”u.sU[2n3s–u25rp].rAiscicnogrldyi,npgritvoaBtaenciastreur saendcocnotlilneaugeusetso[5in] c(pre.a7s)e, tahnencuaar lilsy [26], averacguletuorcaclluypraonotceyd:c“oFnrteienruoeasdst,ofrdeecplianrkein[2g7, ]c,haeanpdpaestrpolu, racnhdausinnivgercshaol,icheseacpodnrtiivneurelictoenshinigftatroeward lightwtridueclkysviaenwdedSaUsVasna[t2u8r]alitripghret”s.eUnntssuarpfroirsmingidlya,bplreivcahteacllaernugse ctoontaidnudersetsosincgretahsee atrnannusaplloyr[t26s]e,ctors’
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