Sustainable travel and team dynamics among mobile health professionals

ABSTRACT

This study explores the potential for more sustainable patterns of travel by mobile health professionals. It also explores the relationships between their travel for work and their modal choices in commuting and private travel. It uses as a case study a health trust in the UK that introduced a pioneering scheme involving the use of electric bikes and pool cars designed to reduce the use of employees' own vehicles for work travel. Using self-categorization theory, it explores the role of work group social norms in explaining the differential take-up of the scheme. The study used an online survey completed by 306 staff, telephone interviews, a focus group, and analysis of carbon emissions. The main alternative to private car use was cycling, used by 15% of staff. Several operational constraints were identified, but the differences in participation were also strongly related to work group cultures. Local managers embodying prototypical norms exerted a significant influence on the work groups that had embraced the scheme. A focus group with a team using electric bikes found evidence of increased staff motivation, and benefits to client groups, due to strengthened in-group social identity. The findings suggest considerable potential for modal shift in the travel of mobile health professionals in urban areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Business travel
• carbon reductions
• cycling
• health professionals
• mobile staff
• pool cars
• work travel