Providing eco-driving feedback to corporate car drivers: what impact does a smartphone application have on their fuel efficiency?
ISBN
978-1-4503-1224-0
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2012-09-05
Author(s)
Abstract
The increasing demand for energy appeals for goals to be set targeting a reduction in CO2 emissions. Of the 23% that the transport sector contributed to the EU CO2 emissions in 2011, road transport was responsible for 71% (European Commission, 2011). In Germany one quarter of the three million newly registered cars are predicted to be corporate cars (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, 2012). Corporate companies are interested in reducing their carbon footprint for both financial and environmental reasons. For instance, in our case study, a global software company's corporate cars are responsible for 23% of the company's total CO2 emissions, and with petrol costs of 42.5 million Euros in 2011 (Sustainability Manager Software Company, 2012), an improvement in fuel efficiency is attractive.
Potential solutions like purchasing new vehicles with the latest on-board eco-feedback technologies require substantial one-time investments. A more costs attractive alternative is to provide employees with an eco-driving training which educates them about eco-friendly driving techniques. This option has been explored by research that focused on offering such trainings to private car users; improvements in fuel efficiency of 5-15% were achieved (Onoda, 2009), but motives to embrace eco-friendly driving recommendations were rooted in the participants' desire to profit from the financial rewards (Van der Voort et al., 2001).
Corporate car drivers cannot be enthused by financial rewards as their fuel costs are reimbursed by their company. Eco-driving training does present the potential to stimulate motivation for participants' to reduce their fuel consumption by promoting a more sustainable driving style, but this can be costly both financially and with regards to time when considering a larger corporate fleet. For this reason, mobile technologies provided an opportunity to address fuel efficiency. The use of mobile technologies to promote eco-driving concepts amongst corporate car drivers indicated an improvement in fuel efficiency of between 3-8% (Siero et al., 1989; Tulusan et al., 2012). This approach requires a smaller financial investment and less time to implement due to the comparably low cost for the smartphone application and the high penetration rate of smartphones.
This paper builds on existing findings in the literature, which claim that eco-feedback
technologies can enable corporate car drivers to improve their fuel efficiency. A qualitative case study research approach was chosen, including a field test with 50 corporate car drivers, in which the treatment group (n=25) used an eco-driving smartphone application for eight weeks. Additionally, a post survey with 24 and semi-structured interviews with 15 out of the 25 corporate car drivers in the treatment group were conducted to unveil their experiences, opinions, and concerns. The focus laid on a structured analysis of these opinions to define a first set of recommendations for organizations intending to adopt an eco-driving concept supported by eco-feedback technologies.
Findings were analyzed applying the Feedback Intervention Theory (FIT) by Kluger & DeNisi (1996) which evaluates changes in behavior as a consequence of feedback interventions. In relation to the information communication technologies (ICT) research domain, the FIT highlighted "that computer-mediated feedback will lead to a focus on the task" (Stoney Alder, 2007, p.163). This in turn can lead to an improvement in performance, i.e. an improvement in corporate drivers' fuel efficiency. The theoretical contribution lies in the computer-mediated feedback addressing energy reduction; this was not explored by Kluger & DeNisi (1996). The concept of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was also applied to the findings to attain a greater understanding of how a change in driving behavior may be triggered.
Findings highlight the importance of raising corporate car drivers' awareness of their fuel consumption. Also, punishment must be eliminated from the process and extrinsic motivation offered by setting realistic fuel-saving goals, exposing fuel consumption/ costs, and providing personalized feedback. These measures afford drivers a feeling of autonomy and competence, which enhances their intrinsic motivation to commit to long-term improvements.
Potential solutions like purchasing new vehicles with the latest on-board eco-feedback technologies require substantial one-time investments. A more costs attractive alternative is to provide employees with an eco-driving training which educates them about eco-friendly driving techniques. This option has been explored by research that focused on offering such trainings to private car users; improvements in fuel efficiency of 5-15% were achieved (Onoda, 2009), but motives to embrace eco-friendly driving recommendations were rooted in the participants' desire to profit from the financial rewards (Van der Voort et al., 2001).
Corporate car drivers cannot be enthused by financial rewards as their fuel costs are reimbursed by their company. Eco-driving training does present the potential to stimulate motivation for participants' to reduce their fuel consumption by promoting a more sustainable driving style, but this can be costly both financially and with regards to time when considering a larger corporate fleet. For this reason, mobile technologies provided an opportunity to address fuel efficiency. The use of mobile technologies to promote eco-driving concepts amongst corporate car drivers indicated an improvement in fuel efficiency of between 3-8% (Siero et al., 1989; Tulusan et al., 2012). This approach requires a smaller financial investment and less time to implement due to the comparably low cost for the smartphone application and the high penetration rate of smartphones.
This paper builds on existing findings in the literature, which claim that eco-feedback
technologies can enable corporate car drivers to improve their fuel efficiency. A qualitative case study research approach was chosen, including a field test with 50 corporate car drivers, in which the treatment group (n=25) used an eco-driving smartphone application for eight weeks. Additionally, a post survey with 24 and semi-structured interviews with 15 out of the 25 corporate car drivers in the treatment group were conducted to unveil their experiences, opinions, and concerns. The focus laid on a structured analysis of these opinions to define a first set of recommendations for organizations intending to adopt an eco-driving concept supported by eco-feedback technologies.
Findings were analyzed applying the Feedback Intervention Theory (FIT) by Kluger & DeNisi (1996) which evaluates changes in behavior as a consequence of feedback interventions. In relation to the information communication technologies (ICT) research domain, the FIT highlighted "that computer-mediated feedback will lead to a focus on the task" (Stoney Alder, 2007, p.163). This in turn can lead to an improvement in performance, i.e. an improvement in corporate drivers' fuel efficiency. The theoretical contribution lies in the computer-mediated feedback addressing energy reduction; this was not explored by Kluger & DeNisi (1996). The concept of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was also applied to the findings to attain a greater understanding of how a change in driving behavior may be triggered.
Findings highlight the importance of raising corporate car drivers' awareness of their fuel consumption. Also, punishment must be eliminated from the process and extrinsic motivation offered by setting realistic fuel-saving goals, exposing fuel consumption/ costs, and providing personalized feedback. These measures afford drivers a feeling of autonomy and competence, which enhances their intrinsic motivation to commit to long-term improvements.
Language
English
Keywords
eco-driving
carbon footprint
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Book title
Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Publisher
ACM
Publisher place
New York, NY, USA
Start page
212
End page
215
Event Title
14th ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp'12)
Event Location
Pittsburgh, USA
Event Date
05.-08.09.2012
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
224982
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