Investigating the Effects of Eco-Friendly Service Options on Rebound Behavior in Ride-Hailing

Paper Title

Investigating the Effects of Eco-Friendly Service Options on Rebound Behavior in Ride-Hailing

Publication Info

• Topic area: Behavioral responses to eco-friendly service options (EFSOs) in ride-hailing and their unintended consequences.
• Keywords: Eco-friendly service options, rebound effects, ride-hailing, eco-feedback, moral credit, sustainable HCI, behavioral change, urban transportation, environmental impact, gamification.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Eco-friendly service options (EFSOs) aim to reduce carbon emissions but may unintentionally encourage increased consumption, leading to rebound effects. The role of eco-feedback in shaping these effects is underexplored in HCI.
• Significance: Understanding rebound effects is critical for designing EFSOs that achieve their intended environmental benefits without inadvertently promoting unsustainable behaviors.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research has focused on promoting EFSOs through eco-feedback mechanisms like CO2 equivalencies, social proof, and gamification. However, the potential for EFSOs to trigger rebound effects and how eco-feedback influences this dynamic remain unclear.

Solution

• Proposed approach: An online within-subjects experiment to investigate how EFSOs and eco-feedback influence ride-hailing choices and potential rebound behaviors.
• Novelty:
  1. Empirical evidence on how EFSOs can facilitate rebound behaviors in ride-hailing.
  2. Analysis of how eco-feedback mechanisms (e.g., CO2 equivalencies, social proof, gamification) shape user decisions.
  3. Insights into user rationales and moral-psychological pathways influencing rebound effects.
  4. Practical design recommendations for mitigating rebound effects in EFSOs.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  1. Participants (N = 75) chose between walking and ride-hailing across five EFSO conditions (No EFSO, EFSO - Minimal, EFSO - CO2 Equivalency, EFSO - Gamified, EFSO - Social).
  2. Trip distances ranged from 0.5–2.0 miles (≈ 0.8–3.22 km).
  3. Behavioral data (ride-hailing uptake) and subjective measures (moral credit loss, perceived environmental impact) were collected.
  4. Qualitative reflections on decision-making rationales were analyzed thematically.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • EFSOs increased ride-hailing uptake compared to the baseline (No EFSO), particularly at distances exceeding 1.05 miles (≈ 1.68 km).
  • EFSO - Minimal had the strongest effect, with an odds ratio of 1.94 compared to No EFSO.
  • Eco-feedback variants (EFSO - CO2 Equivalency, EFSO - Social) showed increased ride-hailing uptake at longer distances but did not significantly differ from EFSO - Minimal.
  • Participants rated EFSOs as reducing perceived moral credit loss and environmental burden compared to No EFSO.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • EFSOs, especially EFSO - Minimal, made convenience-driven ride-hailing choices feel more acceptable by framing them as environmentally responsible.
  • Eco-feedback mechanisms did not amplify rebound behaviors but influenced perceptions of environmental impact.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Logistic mixed-effects modeling was used to analyze the effects of EFSOs and trip distance on ride-hailing choices.
  • Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that convenience and comfort dominated decision-making, with EFSOs serving as justifications for less sustainable choices.
• Limitations and future work:
  • The study’s online experimental design may not fully capture real-world decision-making dynamics.
  • Results are limited to U.S. participants and a specific trip context (walking vs. ride-hailing).
  • Future work should explore between-subjects designs, real-world studies, and other service domains (e.g., logistics, travel booking).

Summary

This study examined how eco-friendly service options (EFSOs) and eco-feedback influence ride-hailing choices and potential rebound behaviors. Results showed that EFSOs increased ride-hailing uptake, particularly at longer distances, with EFSO - Minimal having the strongest effect. Eco-feedback mechanisms shaped perceptions of environmental impact but did not significantly amplify rebound behaviors. Participants prioritized convenience and used EFSOs to justify less sustainable choices. The findings highlight the need for transparent communication of EFSO benefits and consideration of moral-psychological pathways in design. EFSOs should remain available but be carefully designed to avoid unintended behavioral consequences.