Promoting Sustainable Travel: a social marketing approach

Barr, Stewart (2015). Promoting Sustainable Travel: a social marketing approach. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851806

This research explores the motivations and barriers encountered by individuals for adopting more ‘sustainable’ forms of travel behaviour in a range of lifestyle contexts, including travel for work, leisure and holidays. Through a series of questionnaire and focus groups analyses with the public, the research examines the links between different forms of travel behaviour to develop a greater understanding of what constitute ‘travel practices’. On the basis of these ‘practices’, the research will use segmentation analysis to identify a series of lifestyle groups who share similar travel habits, exploring the factors that influence the behaviour of these individuals. These factors can then be used to explore the value of ‘social marketing’ as a way of promoting more sustainable travel amongst different groups in society. Social marketing necessitates a focus on the specific barriers individuals encounter within the context of their lifestyle choices and aspirations and seeks to promote behavior change through positive marketing and branding strategies rather than negative campaigning. Using wide stakeholder engagement, the research seeks to uncover the factors that influence a highly complex set of behaviors related to travel in the UK and explores practical measures for changing current practices amongst different lifestyle groups.

Data description (abstract)

The objectives of the research were as follows: (1) to identify and measure a series of ‘sustainable travel behaviours’ using a sample of individuals from the general public; (2) to explore the empirical and conceptual links between different types of sustainable travel practices amongst the sample; (3) to use segmentation analysis to identify a series of lifestyle groups based on these behavioural data; (4) to use an established framework of environmental behaviour to identify the motivators and barriers for adopting different forms of behaviour according to lifestyle group;
(5) to use the results from objectives 1-4 to assist local and national policy makers in promoting sustainable lifestyle practices.

There were 3 primary data collection stages focused around 5 sites, selected for their residential type (high-density, inner-city suburban, low-density outskirts, commuter town and rural centre). In each location the following data collection was undertaken: (1)Two focus group discussions with members of the public selected through convenience based sample techniques in July 2008; (2) A questionnaire survey of 400 households selected using systematic random sampling, based on address lists provided by the Royal Mail Address Database; (3) One follow-up focus group discussion with selected respondents to the quantitative survey. In addition, five in-depth interviews were undertaken with participants to the questionnaire, one in each study location. It is a cross-sectional(one-time) study, interviews were conducted face-to-face, and the selection criteria for the sample was one-stage stratified, systematic random sample.

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