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carpooling with a commuter's life and work, particularly in the commuter/employer relationship. Company size, assistance in finding carpool partners, worktime flexibility and work schedules have all been associated with a commuter's propensity to carpool (Cervero and Griesenbeck 1988; Ferguson 1990). The rideshare literature has been rich and varied in its approach to understanding commuting behaviour; only a few of the major publications have been discussed here. A major gap in the carpool literature, however, has been the lack of any systematic approach or underpinning theory to the research. The wider environmental literature is beginning to develop a theoretical framework, particularly based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen 1985, 1991). These theoretical approaches are applied to carpooling in this study in order to better understand the motivations and barriers to carpooling behaviour. Applying Marketing Theory to Carpool Behaviour The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is a theory of attitude-behaviour relationships which links attitudes, subjective norms, behavioural intentions and behaviour in a fixed causal sequence (Sparks and Shepperd 1992). Behaviour is asserted to result from behavioural intention, which in turn is asserted to arise out of a combination of people's attitudes towards performing the behaviour of interest and their perceptions of the social expectations (norms) put upon them to perform that behaviour. Attitudes are suggested to arise from a combination of people's beliefs about behavioural outcomes and their evaluations of those outcomes. Subjective norms are similarly proposed as arising from a combination of people's perceptions that important others think they should, or should not, perform the behaviour of interest and their motivation to comply with the wishes of others (See Figure 1). Behavioural Beliefs & Outcome Evaluations Attitude Behavioural Intention Behaviour Normative Beliefs & Motivation to Comply Subjective Norms Figure 1: Model of the Theory of Reasoned Action The TRA is an appropriate model when behaviour is under an individual's volitional control (i.e., if the individual can decide at will to perform or not perform the behaviour). However, the theory fails to take account of factors that facilitate or inhibit performance of behaviours over which people have only partial control. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) extends the TRA by adding perceived behavioural control as a determinant of behaviour and behavioural intention, by incorporating a construct that deals with people's perception of control over the behaviour. That is, their beliefs that they can perform the behaviour if they so desire, that they
have the required time, skills, resources and cooperation of others are expected to be positively associated with behavioural intentions, and actual behaviour (See Figure 2). The Present Study The work by Taylor and Todd (1995, 1997) on composting and garbage reduction behaviour serves as a foundation for the hypothesised models explaining carpooling behaviour. However, we have adapted their models as a consequence of a pilot study to elicit salient beliefs related to carpooling. In our two models, attitude is hypothesised to be positively related to behavioural intentions. Similar to Taylor and Todd (1997) we hypothesise that both personal and societal advantages will be positively associated with attitude. However, compatibility beliefs are believed to be related to attitude rather than perceived behavioural control. This change is also suggested by the literature on innovation adoption, which suggests that the key determinants of adoption are relative advantage, compatibility and complexity (Rogers 1983). Behavioural Beliefs & Outcome Evaluations Attitude Normative Beliefs & Motivation to Comply Subjective Norms Behavioural Intention Behaviour Control Beliefs & Perceived Facilitation Perceived Behavioural Control Figure 2. Model of the Theory of Planned Behaviour Both internal and external normative beliefs about carpooling are hypothesised to be positively related to subjective norms. In the TPB model, perceived behavioural control is hypothesised to be composed of beliefs about resource facilitating conditions and beliefs about the ability to carry out the behaviour, or self-efficacy. Although not part of the TRA or TPB, previous research has suggested the importance of past behaviour in predicting current or future behaviour (Norman and Conner 1996; Van Ryn et al. 1996; Reinecke et al. 1996). Therefore, past experience with carpooling is hypothesised to have a direct relationship on future carpooling intentions, as well as an indirect relationship on behavioural intentions via attitudes. For this study an actual measure of carpooling behaviour was not feasible. Thus, this research focuses upon the relationship between behavioural intentions and the independent variables. See Figures 3 and 4 for the TRA and TPB based models.
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