The Attitude-Behavior Gap in Green Travel Behavior: A Comprehensive Perspective Based on Color-Coded Behavior and the Moderating Influence of Motivation

It is conceptually and empirically agreed that positive attitude towards green travel does not necessarily turn into actual green travel behavior, which is referred as the “attitude-behavior gap” in the field of social psychology. Though a great number of theories and methods have been developed to deal with this issue, no consensus has been arrived. Two approaches are integrated to provide a better understanding of the attitudinal influences on green travel behavior. By virtue of the color-coded behavior, four segments, each defined by specific green travel attitude-behavior combinations, are obtained, which contributes to targeting “vulnerable” travelers for transport governors. The moderating role of green travel motivation is then examined and confirmed by exploring the attitude-behavior relations across groups with different travel motivations. It is found that under certain conditions, both specific attitude towards car and general green travel attitude would significantly influence the actual green travel behavior. It is expected that the current results would provide implications for the movement or policies to promote green travel modes through the development of particular individual attitude.