Hvordan vil opplevelser med en utlånsordning for elsykler påvirke holdninger og fremtidige intensjoner for elsykkelbruk?

Abstract

The current thesis combines a theoretical framework from positive psychology with a research question from environmental psychology to study the relationship between experiences with pedelec usage, and attitudes towards pedelecs, as well as future intentions for pedelec usage. A pedelec is here defined as a bicycle equipped with an electrical assisting motor. The empirical data is from a lending project for pedelecs undertaken by Lillehammer Kommune from 2018-2020. A one-group posttest-only design was utilized to analyze the empirical data with the goal of investigating the relationship between experiences with non binding usage of pedelecs through a lending project, and a) changes in the users thought action repertoire, and b) changes in the user’s intentions of reducing car usage and increasing pedelec usage. The results indicate a significant relationship between the variables. There is a strong correlation between positive experiences with pedelec usage and increases in the user’s thought-action repertoire. This indicates that non-binding usage with pedelecs might be an important tool for producing positive attitudes towards pedelec usage in the population. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between positive experiences with pedelec usage and increased intentions for reducing car usage and increasing pedelec usage. This indicates that lending projects for pedelecs might help overcome barriers against purchases of pedelecs for private usage. The current thesis was a cross-sectional study, which makes it difficult to infer whether there is a causal relationship between the variables. This presents an interesting topic for future research.