Social psychological and contextual drivers of cargo bike usage: Insights from a comprehensive structural equation model

• The study investigates the relationship and interplay of social psychological and contextual factors on cargo bike usage. • The analysis is based on a survey with more than 2,500 cargo bike-sharing users in various geographical settings. • A theory-driven structural equation model is proposed and tested, informed by the Comprehensive Action Determination model. • The findings suggest that cargo bike usage can be predicted by a combination of contextual and psychological factors. • To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study presents the first structural equation model to explain cargo bike usage. Cargo bikes represent a promising yet often overlooked alternative to cars for private and commercial transportation purposes. While previous research examined the determinants of mode choice across various modes of transportation, much less is known about the interplay of different categories of determinants on cargo bike use, particularly for private transportation. This study aims to address this research gap by building on a comprehensive survey of 2590 private cargo bike-sharing users in Germany. Using a structural equation model, an adapted version of the Comprehensive Action Determination Model is tested to explain cargo bike usage for private transportation purposes. Thus, this study investigates the relationship and interplay of normative and value-based processes (i.e., sufficiency orientation), perceived and objective situational constraints, demographic characteristics, intentional processes, and habitual processes. The results indicate a good overall fit of the model combining social psychological with contextual factors. In particular, the findings suggest that private cargo bike usage can be predicted by well-established concepts from psychological research (i.e., the Theory of Planned Behavior) when complemented by additional constructs such as bicycle weather orientation. Based on the results, implications for future research as well as for policy makers are derived.