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An empirical examination of the ecological and cognitive active commuting framework: A social marketing formative research study

Bo Pang (Social Marketing @ Griffith, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia)
Sharyn Robyn Rundle-Thiele (Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia)
Krzysztof Kubacki (Social Marketing @ Griffith, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia)

Health Education

ISSN: 0965-4283

Article publication date: 2 October 2017

469

Abstract

Purpose

Evidence indicates that active school travel (AST) including walking can effectively lower levels of obesity among school-age children. Yet Queensland has been identified as one of the most inactive states in Australia where only 5 per cent of Years 1 and 5 children engaged in AST on a daily basis. The purpose of this paper is to explain walking to school behaviour among Queensland children by investigating the explanatory potential of the ecological and cognitive active commuting (ECAC) model.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey of 537 carers in Queensland, Australia was conducted to collect data about demographics and the variables in the ECAC model. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the ECAC model and the pathways between variables.

Findings

The results indicate that the ECAC model explained 53.4 per cent of the variance in walking to school. Social norms are the dominating factor in the model. Distance to school affects how the ECAC model works by moderating the associations among walking to school behaviours, perceived risks, and social norms.

Practical implications

Changing carers’ social norms and lowering the perceived risks they associate with walking to school should increase the incidence of walking to school in Queensland.

Originality/value

Although the ECAC model was proposed as a comprehensive framework to explain walking to school behaviour, to date, it has not been tested empirically. Informed by a modified ECAC framework this study aims to empirically explore the factors that may be preventing or facilitating Queensland children from walking to school.

Keywords

Citation

Pang, B., Rundle-Thiele, S.R. and Kubacki, K. (2017), "An empirical examination of the ecological and cognitive active commuting framework: A social marketing formative research study", Health Education, Vol. 117 No. 6, pp. 581-598. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-12-2016-0066

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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