Cycling for a Sustainable Future. Stimulating Children to Cycle to School via a Synergetic Combination of Informational and Behavioral Interventions

Dieneke Van de Sompel, Liselot Hudders and Lore Vandenberghe
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Dieneke Van de Sompel: Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, 339000 Ghent, Belgium
Liselot Hudders: Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, 339000 Ghent, Belgium
Lore Vandenberghe: Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Ghent University, 339000 Ghent, Belgium

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: This paper explores how communication interventions can be designed to motivate children to choose more sustainable commuting options (cycling) to go to school. One-hundred and eighty-six children (between 8 and 11 years old) from Flanders, Belgium, participated in an intervention study testing the effectiveness of using informative versus behavioral interventions and the moderating role of motivational messages. The study employed a between-subjects research design with 3 types of interventions (informational versus behavioral versus a combination of informational and behavioral interventions) and 2 types of motivation (autonomous versus controlled motivation). Findings revealed that the average change in the number of times the child indicated to commute by cycling was biggest after being exposed to a combination of informational and behavioral interventions. The type of motivation (autonomous versus controlled) did not have an impact on the average change in the number of times the child indicated to commute by cycling, nor moderated these effects. Additionally, including age and gender as covariates in the model did not alter the results. The study’s findings provide more insights in how sustainable commuting can be promoted among children. It shows the benefits of combining informational and behavioral interventions in public awareness programs (such as in schools).

Keywords: sustainable transportation; children’s sustainable behavior; persuasive communication; educational campaigns; nudging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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