Interplay of social influence and goal-framing in shaping green travel preferences: the moderating role of travel purpose and companionship

Green travel is a cornerstone in combating air pollution. Gaining insight into the determinants of residents’ green travel preferences is crucial for its successful implementation. Existing research tends to emphasize the direct influence of personal traits, emotions, and pre-existing perceptions on green travel preferences. However, it frequently overlooks the critical interactive process whereby social influences shape individual perceptions and comprehension of green travel options, thereby obscuring a critical mechanism underlying travel preferences. This paper integrates Social Influence Theory and Goal-Framing Theory to propose an expanded Stimulus-Organism-Response model, examining the effects of social influences, specifically including government policy, interpersonal influence, bandwagon effect, and imitation effect on residents’ green travel preferences. The paper further incorporates the moderating effect of travel purpose and companionship into the modeling framework. The model was empirically specified using the SEM model and survey data from 1,153 Chinese respondents. Our findings reveal that government policy, interpersonal influence, bandwagon effect, and imitation effect significantly shape residents’ green travel preferences. Moreover, the paper uncovers that gain, hedonic, and normative goal frames mediate the relationship between social influence and green travel preferences. The moderating effect of residents’ travel purpose and companionship is also confirmed in our models. Drawing on these insights, this paper suggests differentiated and multi-channel policy improvements, enabling governments to formulate compelling strategies to enhance urban residents’ green travel willingness.