The road to sustainability: environmental and psychological factors shaping Vietnamese students’ transportation decisions

Purpose Rapid urbanisation in Southeast Asian cities has intensified challenges related to traffic congestion, air pollution and sustainable mobility. In response, Ho Chi Minh City has recently introduced electric buses as part of its early-stage public transport transition. This study aims to examine young urban residents’ choices between electric buses and private vehicles, applying the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework to capture how contextual and psychological factors jointly shape socially responsible travel behaviour in a developing-city context. Design/methodology/approach The study conceptualises transport infrastructure and services, trip characteristics, work characteristics and environmental awareness as stimulus variables, with travel experience and attitude as organism variables, and transport mode choice as the response. Survey data were collected from over 500 young electric bus users in Ho Chi Minh City between December 2024 and January 2025 and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The results indicate that transport mode choices are largely shaped by indirect effects operating through travel experience and attitude. Trip characteristics, infrastructure quality and environmental awareness positively influence electric bus adoption, while work-related constraints limit usage at the early implementation stage. The findings further reveal a sequential organismic mechanism in which travel experience precedes attitude in shaping behavioural responses. These insights suggest that promoting positive user experiences alongside pro-environmental values is critical for encouraging socially responsible and sustainable urban mobility. Originality/value This study makes a theoretical contribution by presenting work-related traits and environmental awareness as new stimuli within the S–O–R paradigm. These two factors have a major indirect impact on behaviour through organisms (attitude and travel experience). The study is also one of the first to consider attitude as an organism and travel experience as a stimulus, emphasising their mediating functions in influencing transportation choices.