Soder, Michael, Peer, Stefanie. 2018. The potential role of employers in promoting sustainable mobility in rural areas: evidence from Eastern Austria. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 12, (17), 541-551.
BibTeX
Abstract
In industrialized countries, mobility represents one of the most important sources of emissions. Most research on promoting sustainable, climate-friendly modes of transportation has focused on urban areas. Rural areas—although characterized by high dependency on individual car ownership and usage—have received less attention. This article explores the potential role of rural employers in supporting sustainable alternatives to commuting by (single-occupied) motorized vehicles among their employees. We conduct a collective case study that considers five employers located in Eastern Austria (Burgenland), drawing from multiple data sources including structured surveys, expert interviews, focus groups, and site visits. Our analysis shows that employers have little incentive to implement measures that foster sustainable mobility among their employees. On the one hand, the costs accruing to employers for implementing such measures tend to exceed the corresponding benefits by a significant margin (unlike in urban areas where significant cost reductions can arise for employers). On the other hand, also employees generally exhibit little demand for such measures. We conclude that both from a societal and a business perspective, it is not efficient to promote sustainable mobility in rural areas via employers.
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Status of publication | Published |
---|---|
Affiliation | WU |
Type of publication | Journal article |
Journal | International Journal of Sustainable Transportation |
Citation Index | SSCI |
Language | English |
Title | The potential role of employers in promoting sustainable mobility in rural areas: evidence from Eastern Austria |
Volume | 12 |
Number | 17 |
Year | 2018 |
Page from | 541 |
Page to | 551 |
Reviewed? | Y |
DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2017.1402974 |
Open Access | N |
Associations
- Projects
- EMAH Austria-Hungary
- People
- Soder, Michael (Details)
- Peer, Stefanie (Details)
- Organization
- Institute for Ecological Economics IN (Details)
- Research areas (ÖSTAT Classification 'Statistik Austria')
- 5300 Economics (Details)
- 5304 Labour market research (Details)
- 5335 Political economic theory (Details)
- 5341 Economic policy (Details)
- 5353 Environmental economics (Details)
- 5368 Sustainable development, sustainable economics (Details)
- 5371 Macroeconomics (Details)