engleski

To bike or not to bike? Application of the theory of planned behavior in predicting bicycle commuting among students in Zagreb

Reducing motorized transport has a number of positive effects on the environment, utilization of urban space, human health and quality of life. Studies that provide better understanding of factors relevant to choice of transport modes can help in creating campaigns to encourage use of environmentally friendly modes of transport. The main goal of this study was to test the usefulness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) components (subjective norm, attitude toward bicycle use and perceived behavioral control) with the addition of personal norm in predicting the intention of commuting by bicycle to university among students in Zagreb, Croatia. Additionally, we researched students’ habits of commuter cycling to university. The data was obtained from 712 students at University of Zagreb using an on- line survey. The results showed that students mostly used public transport to go to university and that commuting by bicycle was the second most common choice. The frequency of bicycle use differed with regard to distance between the university and the neighborhood where participants live. The frequency first increased and stopped at distance category from 2 to 5km when it started to decrease and was the least frequent at distances longer than 10km. Results of hierarchical regression show that all the components of TPB are significant predictors and explain 55.3% of the variance in intention of commuting by bicycle. Adding personal norm to the components of TPB made a significant contribution to explained variance of the intention (additional 2.3%), at the same time personal norm was the weakest predictor (βa = .301 ; βpbc = .288 ; βsn = .211 ; βpn = .168). Our findings provide confirmation of the usefulness of the TPB components with addition of personal norm in predicting intention of commuting by bicycle to university. Practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

theory of planned behavior; personal norm; bicycle; commuting

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