1 Introduction
2 Theory and hypotheses
2.1 Sustainable Aviation Fuels and carbon offset programs
2.2 Explaining sustainable purchase behavior with the VBN Theory
2.3 Integrating TPB and VBN theory
2.4 Hypotheses and Research Model
H1a–c: A pronounced (a) altruistic and (b) biospheric value orientation is positively related to the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) whereas (c) the egoistic value orientation is negatively related to the NEP.H2: The NEP is positively related to the awareness of consequences.H3: Awareness of the consequences of consumption is positively related to the ascription of responsibility.H4: The level of ascribed responsibility is positively related to personal norms towards sustainable consumption.H5: A strong personal norm towards sustainable consumption is positively related to sustainable purchase behavior.
H6: A “green” (i.e., environmentally friendly) attitude is positively related to a sustainable purchase intention.H7: The social norm is positively related to sustainable purchase intention.H8: Perceived behavioral control is positively related to sustainable purchase intention.H9: A sustainable purchase intention is positively related to sustainable purchase behavior.
H10: The higher the compensation costs, the lower the willingness to pay for CO2 compensation of the flight travel.H11: The provision of information on SAF leads to a greater willingness to pay more for CO2 offsetting (including through SAF-related surcharges) of flight travel.H12: The higher the absolute price for the flight (and thus for the compensation costs), the lower the willingness to pay for the CO2 compensation of the flight travel.
3 Method
3.1 Research design
3.2 Sample
3.3 Instruments (questionnaire part 1)
3.4 Experimental design (questionnaire part 2)
3.5 Analysis
4 Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics
Scale | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Biospheric value orientationa | 5.70 | 1.23 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
2. Altruistic value orientationa | 5.74 | 1.24 | 0.64 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
3. Egoistic value orientation | 4.92 | 1.20 | 0.45 | 0.61 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
4. New ecological paradigm | 5.84 | 0.88 | 0.62 | 0.55 | 0.40 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
5. Awareness of consequences | 5.50 | 0.92 | 0.53 | 0.57 | 0.42 | 0.68 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
6. Ascription of responsibility | 4.48 | 1.10 | 0.38 | 0.41 | 0.23 | 0.38 | 0.40 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
7. Personal norm | 4.31 | 1.22 | 0.50 | 0.48 | 0.32 | 0.42 | 0.46 | 0.59 | – | – | – | – | – |
8. Green attitude | 3.72 | 0.70 | 0.42 | 0.39 | 0.24 | 0.45 | 0.47 | 0.40 | 0.49 | – | – | – | – |
9. Social norm | 2.71 | 0.92 | 0.25 | 0.29 | 0.21 | 0.14 | 0.26 | 0.37 | 0.52 | 0.34 | – | – | – |
10. Perceived behavioral control | 3.28 | 0.71 | 0.21 | 0.15 | 0.08 ns | 0.14** | 0.17 | 0.24 | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0.21 | – | – |
11. Intention | 4.98 | 1.27 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 0.25 | 0.35 | 0.32 | 0.42 | 0.71 | 0.48 | 0.40 | 0.30 | – |
12. Sustainable purchase behavior | 2.38 | 0.85 | 0.33 | 0.29 | 0.13** | 0.22 | 0.24 | 0.33 | 0.58 | 0.34 | 0.37 | 0.26 | 0.54 |
4.2 Separability of the constructs
4.3 Structural equation model
4.4 Analysis of variance
Compensation model | Long Distance/High price | Information richness | N | M | SD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
20% SAF (option 1) | No | Rich | 66 | 56.44 | 27.10 |
No | Reduced | 69 | 64.93 | 26.32 | |
Yes | Rich | 73 | 61.48 | 27.67 | |
Yes | Reduced | 74 | 53.60 | 31.94 | |
50% SAF (option 2) | No | Rich | 66 | 44.92 | 27.46 |
No | Reduced | 69 | 43.88 | 23.88 | |
Yes | Rich | 73 | 40.14 | 21.53 | |
Yes | Reduced | 74 | 38.14 | 25.77 | |
80% SAF (option 3) | No | Rich | 66 | 31.67 | 29.62 |
No | Reduced | 69 | 25.33 | 23.23 | |
Yes | Rich | 73 | 24.89 | 25.48 | |
Yes | Reduced | 74 | 21.95 | 23.24 |
4.5 Additional explorative analysis
Category | Examples | Number of comments that primarily mentioned this reason |
---|---|---|
Environmentally conscious | “Fairness towards both projects, price-performance and bad conscience about high CO2 emissions during long-distance flights, costs rather irrelevant—environmental thought wins.” | 71 |
Price conscious | “The cheapest might be conceivable, but financially difficult at the moment.” | 269 |
Skeptical | “What does the compensation look like in concrete terms? I want to know what exactly the added value is used for: Purpose and goal.” “Am not financially responsible for climate protection, this must be done through legal regulations and subsidies by the state.” | 44 |