Behavioral Change Toward Sustainable Mobility: How Implicit and Explicit Labels Shift Consumer Choices from Flights to Trains
(A2026-132468)

AUTHORS

Catalina Estrada-Mejia, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology; GIULIA GRANATO, TU Delft, faculty of Industrial Design Engineering; Suzanne Hiemstra-van Mastrigt, Delft University of Technology

ABSTRACT

Aviation is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the need for behavioral changes toward more sustainable transportation options, such as trains. This study examines how ecolabels influence travel choices in an online experiment with 330 participants on a simulated booking platform. Participants chose a flight, bus, or train across four conditions: no label, a color-coded implicit label, a CO₂ emission explicit label, and a combined label. Results show that the implicit label reduced intention and selection of air travel and increased intention and choice for train travel, with no significant effect on bus choices. The combined label offered no added benefits beyond those of the individual labels, indicating a saturation effect. These findings contribute to research on consumer and environmental psychology by addressing how interventions effective in low-impact, low-effort settings influence high-impact, high-effort behaviors like travel behavior.