Between green and gray: Smog risk and rationale behind vehicle switching

Smog pollution and its health risk have severe effects on the daily lives of people in China. Most of the contribution to smog in urban areas comes from transportation, making it more severe, dense, and hazardous for health and routine work. The government of China is struggling to mitigate smog pollution by promoting green vehicles and the mode of transportation along with other policy measures. The current study attempts to investigate the intention of people to switch [or Switching Intention (SI)] from motorized vehicles to green vehicles by incorporating the Push-Pull-Mooring model from migration theory and Institutional Theory. The study integrates Smog Knowledge (SK), Smog Health Risk (SHR), and Regulative Environment (RE) as Push factors; Alternative Attractiveness (AA) and Normative Environment (NE) as Pull factors; and Self-efficacy (SE) and Switching Cost (SC) as Mooring factors. This is the first study of its kind to investigate SI for green vehicles. The model explains that Pull and Mooring effects are more effective than are Push effects, with Mooring factors moderating the relationship between some Push factors, the Pull factors, and SI. The government needs to educate people more about their vehicle use, which lead to smog pollution, simultaneously with adoption measures, which will enhance efficacy both at the social and individual level and help the government to implement their policies in a more effective way.