This PhD-project focusses on the motivation for sustainable mobility behavior among premium customers of the BMW group and acceptance of sustainable mobility in the area of tension between public interests and individual needs.
Self-determined mobility plays an important role in the lives of individuals and helps them meet their personal needs in various areas. Whether commuting to work, running errands, picking up and dropping off, visiting family and friends, or going on vacation, mobility enables individuals to obtain goods and services and is an important prerequisite for participating in work and social life, thus contributing to a high quality of life. While individual mobility brings many benefits to its users, it comes at a high cost to society as a whole. At the heart of sustainable mobility is the question of how individual mobility can be designed without harming society and the environment.
Based on behavioral economics, this study analyzes data on individual mobility behavior to find answers to what kind of optimal incentive system individuals need to optimize their mobility behavior in the interest of sustainability. Insights from behavioral science contribute not only to a better understanding of human behavior and the factors that influence behavioral change, but also to the development of more effective and efficient policies to promote welfare-enhancing and sustainable behavior. A first step in this process is the use of vehicle usage data to better understand individual mobility behavior by car and to quantify the savings potential of individual car trips. In the following steps, target group-oriented information will be identified to nudge customers to adopt a more sustainable mobility behavior as part of a holistic motivational concept.
This promotion takes place in cooperation with the BMW Group. Hannah studied economics at the Ludwig-Maximilans University in Munich focusing on behavioral economics and started the ProMotion program at the BMW Group in October 2022.
