ENTER2018 eTourism Conference presentation

1. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 1
Influence of Social Media
Engagement on Sustainable
Mobility Behaviour in Alpine
Regions
Aleksander Groth, Rosanna Buchauer, Stephan Schlögl
Interaction Lab
Management, Communication & IT (MCiT)
Management Center Innsbruck, Austria
aleksander.groth@mci.edu, r.buchauer@mci4me.at
www.mci.edu/mcit

2. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 2
Relevance (I).
• A huge part responsible for climate change is CO2-
emissions caused by traffic.
• Tyrol: almost 50% of yearly
produced emissions
only due to traffic
(2.6 tons of 5.5 tons in 2015)
Source: Tiroler Tageszeitung, 2017

3. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 3
http://www.anthonyperruzza.com/site/2016/10/toronto-hosts-leaders-from-across-north-america-to-discuss-environmental-and-economic-sustainability/
Relevance (II).
• Due to its high impact on the environment and nature,
the reduction of emissions stands as an important
principle of sustainability. (Daly, 1990)
• With the tremendous shift in information distribution and
media usage, the so-called mobile generation utilizes
social media technologies as their constant companion.
(Cabral, 2011)
• In addition, users are highly engaged within their social
networks, offering new channels to promote information
on sustainability, raise awareness for alpine regions, and
protect nature in general.

4. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 4
Relevance (III).
• Sustainable thinking is already well accepted
within some areas (e.g. hotel rooms, waste
prevention), awareness towards a more
sustainable behaviour regarding mobility and
travelling is comparatively low.
• Developing strategies to raise such awareness
offers possibilities for destinations and
destination management organizations (DMOs) to
setup and distinguish their marketing campaigns in
order to address and broaden their audience.

5. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 5
Research Question.
How does Social Media Engagement
related to Sustainability influence the
Behavioral Intention towards
Sustainable Mobility in Alpine Regions?
http://www.anthonyperruzza.com/site/2016/10/toronto-hosts-leaders-from-across-north-america-to-discuss-environmental-and-economic-sustainability/

6. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 6
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.

7. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 7
Sustainability.
• Sustainability concerns many spheres of human life and
forms a public issue worldwide. Still, theory does not
provide any one clear-cut definition of sustainability (Müller,
2015).
• In 1987, Gro Harlm Brundtland, discussed the main
objectives of a sustainable development by searching for a
permanent balance of environmental, social and economic
interests:
“Sustainable development is progress, that satisfies the
needs of the present without endangering the ability of
future generations to satisfy their needs” (Stahlmann, 2008,
p.59).

8. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 8
Sustainable Mobility
in Alpine Regions (I).
• “Actually we know more about the mobility behaviour of
bees and other insects in their alpine habitat than about
human individuals.” (Tischler & Mailer, 2014)
• The domain of (applied) mobility is by its nature trans-
disciplinary and demonstrates, how current social,
economic, political, and environmental issues may
provide opportunities for sustainable mobility in the
future. (Freudendal-Pedersen, Hannam, & Kesselring,
2016)

9. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 9
Sustainable Mobility
in Alpine Regions (II).
• Sustainable mobility follows the concept of the ability to
absorb (Stahlmann, 2008):
 implies producing only the amount of emissions that nature can
absorb in aspects of time and amount.
• The Alpine Convention in 1991 set towards ecological
(preservation of natural and cultural values) and
economic (balanced competiveness of the region)
sustainability. (Bender, 2006; Borsdorf & Lange, 2006)
• A question still unanswered is, how to address the topic
of mobility and how to motivate people towards a more
sustainable way of moving between locations.

10. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 10
Attitude & Behaviour
within Sustainability (I).
• Within the context of sustainability and climate change,
research shows that even people with high interest
towards climate protection still would drive their car
often and thus actively pollute the environment.
(Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002)
• There are many barriers within (e.g., emotions,
temperament, attitudes) and outside of a person (e.g.,
social norms, events) that form this discrepancy between
attitude and behaviour.

11. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 11
Attitude & Behaviour
within Sustainability (II).
Rajecki (1982) formulated four core reasons for explaining this loose
connection (as behaviour):
– Direct versus indirect experience: Direct experience form a stronger relation
between attitude and behaviour than indirect experiences.
(e.g., seeing a dead fish that died of pollution vs. reading an article about an environmental problem)
– Normative influences: Social norms and people, who are important to the
individual, affect his or her attitude.
(e.g., a circle of friends that acts often in a pro-environmental way)
– Temporal discrepancy: Attitudes undergo changes over time, especially when
they relate to specific incidents.
(e.g. an opposed attitude against nuclear energy after Chernobyl fades over time)
– Attitude-behaviour measurement: The scope of an examination defines its
results.
(e.g., when an examiner asks either about climate protection in general or about reducing emissions
as a behaviour (Newhouse, 1990))

12. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 12
Attitude & Behaviour
within Sustainability (III).
• Attitude plays a highly significant role in presupposing a
positive behaviour towards the environment. (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 2011; Breckler, 1984b)
• Moreover, attitude is not a direct antecedent of
behaviour, but rather has an impact on a person’s
intention to behave in a certain way, which then forms
behaviour. (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002)

13. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 13
• The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) aims to predict and describe
human behaviour in particular cohesions. (Ajzen, 1991)
– Attitude (level of positive/negative evaluation of a specific
behaviour)
– Subjective norm (social surrounding and perceived social pressure)
– Perceived behavioural control (perceived easiness/difficulty of
conducting the behaviour as well as reflections of previous
experiences and barriers).
• All three form a person’s intention to perform a certain
behaviour and are formed by normative, social, and control
beliefs.
Theory of
Planned Behaviour (TPB).

14. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 14
Theory of
Planned Behaviour (TPB).
Behavioural
Beliefs &
Evaluation
ATT
Attitude
Normative Beliefs
& Motivation to
Comply
SN
Subjective Norm
Control Beliefs &
Perceived Power
PBC
Perceived Behavioural
Control
BI
Behavioural
Intention
BEH
Behaviour

15. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 15
Theory of
Planned Behaviour (II).
• The higher the level of positive attitude, positive subjective norm, and
perceived behavioural control, the greater a person’s intention to
conduct said behaviour.
• Limitations:
– Excludes any spontaneous and automated procedures, but
concentrates solely on planned situations (Ajzen, 1991).
– Neglects anticipated regret of what has been missed out by choosing
one behaviour over the other e.g.,
• In action-theory: opportunity costs (Conner, Sandberg, McMillan, & Higgins, 2006)
• Personality traits of all forms (Eagly & Chaiken, 2011)
• Self-identity and role identity (Sparks & Sheperd, 1992), and
• External resource accessibility and cooperation (Eagly & Chaiken, 2011).

16. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 16
http://socialnicole.com/tips-increase-social-media-engagement/
Social Media Engagement (I).
• Users of social media are able to directly interact with
peers, build communities, and target people in their
individual interest space.
(Carim & Warwick, 2013; Carpenter et al., 2016)
 Information sharing and interaction is attained with
seemingly low effort and costs.
• Consequently, people, who are engaged on social media,
perceive themselves as more powerful in making a
significant difference or causing a change, than people
who avoid social media as a tool to reach others.
(Porter, Sweetser Trammell, Chung, & Kim, 2007)

17. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 17
http://socialnicole.com/tips-increase-social-media-engagement/
Social Media Engagement (II).
• Engagement forms the conceptual framework of social
media and embraces interactions as well as relationship
building with and through other users.
• It can be understood as a connection between users that
can be individuals, brands, or organizations that reach out
to their customers and target groups. (Kietzmann,
Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011)
• Social media enables users to attend and interact within
various communities online, whereas each group treats a
specific topic and depicts the ties with other
communicators. (Carpenter et al., 2016)

18. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 18
Social Media Engagement (III).
• Most of the engagement on sustainability issues revolves
around environmental activism (Pickerill, 2001) and
actions, focusing on minimizing the negative outcomes of
people’s behaviour (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002).
• Mobility management campaigns for instance follow the
goal to minimize emissions by encouraging people to
travel, commute at low-emissions, and change their
overall mind-set (Hiselius & Rosqvist, 2016).
http://socialnicole.com/tips-increase-social-media-engagement/

19. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 19
Influence of Social Media
Engagement on Behavioural Intention (I).
• Typically, people are not oblivious to the negative impact
of leisure and touristic travel on the environment.
• Moreover, specifically adapted information campaigns
could have an influence on a tourist’s mobility behaviour.
(Holden & Linnerud, 2011)
• Such campaigns can go viral through social media, but
minding the attitude-behaviour gap, obvious
discrepancies between environmental concerns and
behaviour are prevalent. (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002)

20. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 20
• Naturally, people with a high environmental awareness are more
open to policies that support pro-environmental behaviour, making
the public’s approval for regulations, such as higher fuel taxes or
similar legal and political changes, crucial. (Schade & Schlag, 2016)
• Consequently, a higher engagement towards sustainability on social
media could lead to a higher cognitive involvement regarding
awareness on social media sites, forums, and weblogs (Stieglitz &
Dang-Xuan, 2013).
• Messages distributed via social media turn out to be more effective
in influencing knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards the
environment than traditional educational campaigns (Marcell,
Agyeman, & Rappaport, 2004).
Influence of Social Media
Engagement on Behavioural Intention (II).

21. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 22
RESEARCH DESIGN.

22. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 23
Hypothesis.
• H1: Attitude (ATT) positively influences the Behavioural Intention to travel
(BI) at low-emissions.
• H2: Subjective Norm (SN) positively influences the Behavioural Intention to
travel (BI) at low-emissions.
• H3: Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) positively influences the Behavioural
Intention to travel (BI) at low-emissions.
• H4: Social Media Engagement (SME) affects the influence of Attitude (ATT) on
Behavioural Intention to travel (BI) at low-emissions.
• H5: Social Media Engagement (SME) affects the influence of Subjective Norm
(SN) on Behavioural Intention to travel (BI) at low-emissions.
• H6: Social Media Engagement (SME) affects the influence of Perceived
Behavioural Control (PBC) on Behavioural Intention to travel (BI) at low-
emissions.

23. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 24
Proposed Research Model.

24. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 25
Study Design.
• Variables measured via seven-point-Likert
scale.
• The questionnaire was distributed online
via Facebook, E-Mail, and in selected online
forums covering the topic of sustainability.

25. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 26
Respondents.
• 203 participants completed the questionnaire
(54.7% female, 45.3% male).
• 57.1% were between 20 and 29 years of age, 33.5% between
30 and 49 years.
• The majority of respondents live in the alpine region (72.4%),
thereof almost 40% in a city and 32.5% in a rural area.
• 70% use Facebook one or more times per day.
• Instagram splits the participants into two large groups:
– 40% use Instagram one or more times per day,
– 40% never use it at all (40%).

26. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 27
RESULTS.

27. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 28
Influence of
ATT, SN and PBC on BI
Regression Coefficients of BI (stepwise Regression)

28. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 29
Influence of
ATT, SN and PBC on BI
• Individuals’ engagement on social media leads to a stronger effect of
their positive attitude towards sustainability on the aim to travel at
low-emissions.
• A strong sustainable environment like friends and family in favor of
sustainability and an interaction with sustainability topics on
Facebook, Instagram or other types of social media are able to move
the individual to a higher tendency to travel and commute
sustainably.
• Persons aim towards an environmental friendly mobility behavior
when they engage with sustainability topics on social media and their
perceived control as possibilities like public transportation in their
surrounding is high.

29. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 30
Influence of
ATT, SN and PBC on BI
ATT, SN and PBC positively influence the BI to travel at low-
emissions.
H1
H2
H3

30. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 31
Moderator effects:
ATT*SME

31. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 32
Moderator effects:
SN*SME

32. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 33
Moderator effects:
PBC*SME

33. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 34
Moderator effects
SME affects the influence of ATT, SN and PBC on the BI to
travel at low-emissions.
H4
H5
H6

34. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 35
Summary of Results
• All three predictors (ATT, SN, PBC) influence the outcome
variable BI
• Participants relate control to their sustainable attitude
and social perception (PBC influences ATT and SN)
• Moderating effect of SME on ATT, SN, and PBC towards BI
• Low values of SME  stronger effect on the increase of BI
than a high value (!)
• Decline of the predictors influence comparable between
all three predictors

35. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 36
DISCUSSION, REMARKS, AND
LIMITATIONS.

36. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 37
Moral licensing effect
• When moving people to engagement and to further action, a
phenomenon called moral licensing becomes effective (Merritt,
Effron & Monin, 2010).
– When individuals engage on social media through collective
action, these attributed actions sum-up over time.
 Several positive actions at one point release guilt feelings for
negative actions at a later point in the mind of the person.
Example:
– People may engage more intensively in sustainability communities
online, which may convert the feeling to reduce or stop their
engagement in real life towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
– People may alter their commuting habits towards lower emissions and at
the same time cause more emissions in their leisure travel by flying more
often or for longer distances.

37. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 38
Limitations.
• TPB: Behavioral Intention leads to Behavior. Nonetheless, a change is
still possible and additionally an interaction between perceived
behavioral control and behavior emerges as the variable of actual
behavior control (Ajzen, 1991).
• There is a difference in leisure and everyday travel behavior (Holden
& Linnerud, 2011; Høyer, 2000).
• Social desirability implies the participants’ tendency to answer
certain items of a questionnaire towards the direction that in their
opinion conforms with the social norm (Raab-Steiner & Benesch,
2010).
Starting point for closer investigations on the actual behavior of people
towards sustainable mobility.

38. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 39
Opportunities.
• The study and theory proposes to invest in social media training for
sustainability communicators (Carpenter et al., 2016).
• Increased communication of sustainability-interested organizations
towards their target group.
• Challenge of connecting strategic online communication with offline
goals (like moving people towards a more sustainable mobility
behavior).
A focus on social media for several organizations in the section of
sustainability and tourism is highly encouraged.

39. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 40
Thank you!
Aleksander Groth & Rosanna Buchauer
Department Management, Communication & IT
Management Center Innsbruck
Universitätsstrasse 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Phone: +43 512 2070 -3523, Fax: -3599
www.mci.edu/mcit