Do Personal Norms Predict Citizens’ Acceptance of Green Transport Policies in China
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development
2.1. Green Transport Policies
2.2. Value Belief Norm Theory
2.3. Framework and Hypotheses
3. Methodology
3.1. Data Collection
3.2. Structural Equation Model
3.3. Measurement Model Design
4. Data Analysis
4.1. Measurement Model Analysis
4.2. Common Method Variance
4.3. Hypotheses Testing
5. Discussion and Conclusions
5.1. Discussion of Findings
5.2. Conclusions
5.3. Implications and Future Research
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Ethical Standard
Appendix A
Constructs | Items | References |
---|---|---|
Biospheric values (BV) | BV1: Preventing pollution. BV2: Respecting the earth (living in harmony with other species). BV3: Unity with nature (fitting into nature). BV4: Protecting the environment (preserving nature). | Stern et al. [43] |
Awareness of consequences (AC) | AC1: Emissions from motor vehicles can lead to air pollution. AC2: The exhaustion of fossil fuels is a social problem. AC3: Global warming is a social problem. | Steg et al. [12] |
Ascription of responsibility (AR) | AR1: I feel jointly responsible for the traffic congestion. AR2: I feel jointly responsible for reducing air pollution. AR3: I feel jointly responsible for the energy problems. AR4: I feel jointly responsible for the global warming. | Steg et al. [12] |
Personal norms (PN) | PN1: I feel morally obliged to use green transport instead of a car. PN2: If I would buy a new car, I would feel morally obliged to buy an energy-saving one. PN3: People like me should do everything they can to reduce car use. PN4: I feel obliged to bear the environment and nature in mind in my daily behavior. PN5: I would be a better person if I protected our environment. | Keizer et al. [22]; Ünal et al. [32] |
Pull policies (PL) | PL1: Do you support government to subside for encouraging citizens to use public transport? PL2: Do you support government to advocate green public buses? PL3: Do you support government to promote new energy vehicles with monetary and nonmonetary incentive measures? PL4: Do you support government to give public bus priority to use the bus lane? PL5: Do you support government to improve public transport facilities? PL6: Do you support government to campaign for green transport? | Wicki et al. [25] |
Push policies (PS) | PS1: Do you support government taxes on fossil fuel? PS2: Do you support government taxes on purchasing motor vehicles? PS3: Do you support government road toll charges? PS4: Do you support restrictions on car use in the city downtown? PS5: Do you support restrictions on new car license? PS6: Do you support the increase of parking fees in the city downtown? | Nordfjærn and Rundmo, [8] |
Intention to reduce car use (IN) | IN1: It is possible for me to reduce car use in the next year. IN2: I could reduce car use in the next year. IN3: I intend to use green transport more frequently. IN4: I will encourage people around me to choose green transport as much as possible. | Abrahamse et al., [44]; Kang et al. [45] |
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Participants’ Characteristics | Categories | Quantity (n = 315) | Percentage (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Male Female | 131 184 | 41.59 58.41 |
Age | Under 18 18–29 30–44 45–59 60 and above | 5 113 150 38 9 | 1.59 35.87 47.62 12.06 2.86 |
Family size | 1 people 2 people 3 people 4 people 5 people | 8 35 103 70 99 | 2.54 11.11 32.70 22.22 31.43 |
Education level | Junior school or below High school College Master Doctor | 6 43 155 99 12 | 1.90 13.65 49.21 31.43 3.81 |
Annual family income | Under CNY100,000 CNY100,000–299,999 CNY300,000–499,999 CNY500,000–699,999 CNY700,000 and above | 69 137 72 20 17 | 21.90 43.49 22.86 6.34 5.40 |
Items | Questions |
---|---|
PL1 | Do you support government to subside for encouraging citizens to use public transport? |
PL2 | Do you support government to advocate green public buses? |
PL3 | Do you support government to promote new energy vehicles with monetary and nonmonetary incentive measures? |
PL4 | Do you support government to give public bus priority to use the bus lane? |
PL5 | Do you support government to improve public transport facilities? |
PL6 | Do you support government to campaign for green transport? |
PS1 | Do you support government taxes on fossil fuel? |
PS2 | Do you support government taxes on purchasing motor vehicles? |
PS3 | Do you support government road toll charges? |
PS4 | Do you support restrictions on car use in the city downtown? |
PS5 | Do you support restrictions on new car license? |
PS6 | Do you support the increase of parking fees in the city downtown? |
Constructs | Factor Loadings | Cronbach’s α | CR | AVE |
---|---|---|---|---|
Biospheric values (BV) | 0.876–0.917 | 0.918 | 0.942 | 0.803 |
Awareness of consequences (AC) | 0.854–0.895 | 0.841 | 0.904 | 0.759 |
Ascription of responsibility (AR) | 0.761–0.922 | 0.894 | 0.927 | 0.761 |
Personal norms (PN) | 0.788–0.846 | 0.865 | 0.902 | 0.649 |
Pull policies (PL) | 0.733–0.883 | 0.895 | 0.920 | 0.658 |
Push policies (PS) | 0.780–0.845 | 0.906 | 0.926 | 0.677 |
Intention to reduce car use (IN) | 0.828–0.907 | 0.899 | 0.929 | 0.765 |
Constructs | AC | AR | BV | IN | PL | PN | PS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awareness of consequences (AC) | 0.871 | ||||||
Ascription of responsibility (AR) | 0.445 | 0.872 | |||||
Biospheric values (BV) | 0.492 | 0.479 | 0.896 | ||||
Intention to reduce car use (IN) | 0.440 | 0.412 | 0.380 | 0.874 | |||
Pull policies (PL) | 0.540 | 0.476 | 0.555 | 0.610 | 0.811 | ||
Personal norms (PN) | 0.578 | 0.586 | 0.539 | 0.637 | 0.661 | 0.806 | |
Push policies (PS) | 0.438 | 0.355 | 0.262 | 0.503 | 0.330 | 0.428 | 0.823 |
Constructs | Items | Substantive Factor Loading(R1) | R12 | Method Factor Loading(R2) | R22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awareness of consequences (AC) | AC1 | 0.8600 *** | 0.7396 | 0.1060 | 0.0112 |
AC2 | 0.8990 *** | 0.8082 | 0.0050 | 0.0000 | |
AC3 | 0.8540 *** | 0.7293 | 0.0410 | 0.0017 | |
Ascription of responsibility (AR) | AR1 | 0.7740 *** | 0.5991 | 0.0640 | 0.0041 |
AR2 | 0.8710 *** | 0.7586 | −0.0200 | 0.0004 | |
AR3 | 0.9190 *** | 0.8446 | 0.0030 | 0.0000 | |
AR4 | 0.9190 *** | 0.8446 | −0.0830 | 0.0069 | |
Biospheric values (BV) | BV1 | 0.8800 *** | 0.7744 | 0.0300 | 0.0009 |
BV2 | 0.9080 *** | 0.8245 | 0.0840 | 0.0071 | |
BV3 | 0.8770 *** | 0.7691 | −0.0070 | 0.0000 | |
BV4 | 0.9200 *** | 0.8464 | 0.0360 | 0.0013 | |
Intention to reduce car use (IN) | IN1 | 0.8510 *** | 0.7242 | −0.0160 | 0.0003 |
IN2 | 0.9010 *** | 0.8118 | 0.2440 | 0.0595 | |
IN3 | 0.8980 *** | 0.8064 | −0.0340 | 0.0012 | |
IN4 | 0.8520 *** | 0.7259 | −0.3440 ** | 0.1183 | |
Pull policies (PL) | PL1 | 0.8190 *** | 0.6708 | 0.0890 | 0.0079 |
PL2 | 0.8780 *** | 0.7709 | 0.0080 | 0.0001 | |
PL3 | 0.7280 *** | 0.5300 | 0.0420 ** | 0.0018 | |
PL4 | 0.8130 *** | 0.6610 | −0.1890 | 0.0357 | |
PL5 | 0.7510 *** | 0.5640 | 0.1590 *** | 0.0253 | |
PL6 | 0.8700 *** | 0.7569 | 0.0600 | 0.0036 | |
Personal norms (PN) | PN1 | 0.8420 *** | 0.7090 | −0.0750 | 0.0056 |
PN2 | 0.8090 *** | 0.6545 | −0.0320 | 0.0010 | |
PN3 | 0.7870 *** | 0.6194 | −0.1540 | 0.0237 | |
PN4 | 0.7960 *** | 0.6336 | −0.1530 | 0.0234 | |
PN5 | 0.7930 *** | 0.6288 | 0.2170 | 0.0471 | |
Push policies (PS) | PS1 | 0.8550 *** | 0.7310 | −0.0560 | 0.0031 |
PS2 | 0.8450 *** | 0.7140 | 0.0400 | 0.0016 | |
PS3 | 0.8450 *** | 0.7140 | −0.0450 *** | 0.0020 | |
PS4 | 0.7870 *** | 0.6194 | 0.0060 | 0.0000 | |
PS5 | 0.8160 *** | 0.6659 | −0.1160 | 0.0135 | |
PS6 | 0.8010 *** | 0.6416 | 0.0530 | 0.0028 | |
Average | 0.8443 | 0.7154 | −0.0012 | 0.0128 |
Paths | Sample Mean | Standard Deviation | T Statistics | p Values |
---|---|---|---|---|
H1: BV -> AC | 0.490 | 0.064 | 7.733 | 0.000 |
H2: AC -> AR | 0.446 | 0.064 | 6.928 | 0.000 |
H3: AC -> PN | 0.397 | 0.058 | 6.859 | 0.000 |
H4: AR -> PN | 0.410 | 0.057 | 7.225 | 0.000 |
H5: PN -> PL | 0.667 | 0.049 | 13.607 | 0.000 |
H6: PN -> PS | 0.434 | 0.053 | 8.051 | 0.000 |
H7: PN -> IN | 0.641 | 0.053 | 11.941 | 0.000 |
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Zhang, L.; Sheng, L.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, S. Do Personal Norms Predict Citizens’ Acceptance of Green Transport Policies in China. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125090
Zhang L, Sheng L, Zhang W, Zhang S. Do Personal Norms Predict Citizens’ Acceptance of Green Transport Policies in China. Sustainability. 2020; 12(12):5090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125090
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhang, Leibao, Liming Sheng, Wenyu Zhang, and Shuai Zhang. 2020. "Do Personal Norms Predict Citizens’ Acceptance of Green Transport Policies in China" Sustainability 12, no. 12: 5090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125090