Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Environment and Natural Resources
Passenger vehicles are a leading contributor to the United States' (U.S.) greenhouse gas emissions. Electrifying the U.S. vehicle fleet is a key strategy to reduce the magnitude of emissions and reduce environmental damage; however, electric vehicle (EV) adoption remains low, particularly among women. In the U.S., women own about half of all vehicles (McElroy, 2023) but less than 1/3rd of EVs (Naughton, 2023). This study sheds light on why women, traditionally strong adopters of pro-environmental behaviors, are buying less EVs than men. Study 1 shows that relative to men, women have lower EV purchasing intention. Women evaluated EVs as being less safe and as having less instrumental and affective value, and these factors mediated the relationship between gender and purchasing intention. Women also reported that they would feel greater feelings of range anxiety and concern for their personal safety while using a public charging station. I theorize that these feelings may relate in part to concern about one's children, which may be more salient for women, and explored this through Study 2. My manipulation was unsuccessful in getting women to think solely about themselves in the context of a hypothetical vehicle purchase, but these results did show that men and women do not differ in their willingness to purchase an EV as a family vehicle relative to a personal vehicle, though overall, women are less willing to purchase an EV relative to men. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that in general, people are equally willing to recommend an EV for a man or a woman but are less willing to recommend an EV to a person with children; however, a three-way contrast showed that women (but not men) participants were less willing to recommend an EV for a woman with children relative to a man with children. The effect of presence of children on willingness to recommend was partially mediated by perceptions of safety and instrumental value, such that safety and instrumental value positivel (open full item for complete abstract)
Committee: Nicole Sintov (Advisor); Jacquet Jeffrey (Committee Member); Brooks Jeremy (Committee Member)
Subjects: Environmental Studies; Psychology