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Function, symbolism or society? Exploring Canadian consumer interest in electric and shared mobility

Thesis type
(Project) M.R.M. (Planning)
Date created
2022-02-22
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
Electric and shared mobility offer alternatives to the dominance of privately-owned, fossil fuel powered vehicles. I explore consumer perceptions and motivations regarding these innovations, using survey data from a sample of Canadian (n = 529) adopters and non-adopters of electric vehicles (EVs), car-sharing and shared ride-hailing. I apply a framework with four perception categories: private-functional (e.g., costs and convenience), private-symbolic (e.g., making good impressions), societal-functional (e.g., protecting the environment) and societal-symbolic (e.g., spreading inspiration). Using a theory-based approach, I regressed the four perception categories noted above as predictors of adoption for each innovation. Results show that positive private-functional perceptions are consistent predictors across all three innovations, while private-symbolic perceptions are only associated with EV adoption. Societal-functional and societal-symbolic perceptions have no association with adoption. I also apply a data-based approach using factor analysis to identify unique perception categories. Findings are largely consistent with the first method, with some nuanced insights.
Document
Identifier
etd21795
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author(s).
Permissions
This thesis may be printed or downloaded for non-commercial research and scholarly purposes.
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Axsen, Jonn
Language
English
Download file Size
input_data\22369\etd21795.pdf 432.09 KB

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