Proenvironmental travel behavior among office workers: A qualitative study of individual and organizational determinants

An analysis of individual and organizational determinants of proenvironmental work-related travel behavior, and their interactions, is presented. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with office workers from four organizations in two Dutch provinces. Environmentally-relevant behavior related to commutes and business trips (i.e. travel frequency, travel mode, teleworking, and teleconferencing) was examined. Evidence from interorganizational comparisons suggests that organizational measures did not have uniform effects on employee behavior which was partially due to differences in attitude and personal income. The salience of social norms pertaining to work-related travel behavior also differed between organizations and organizational subpopulations. Differences in attitudes between employees, however, did correspond to some extent to organizational culture or focus differences at the organizational level. Finally, the results underscore the possibility that similar outcomes at the behavioral level might be the result of different underlying dynamics.