Stop and Go — Empirical application and validation of the technology acceptance framework for the specific case of biofuel acceptance

Understanding how societies accept new transport fuels is a central challenge for interdisciplinary transitions toward sustainable energy systems, being crucial for mitigating climate change and reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions. Because transport sectors are a major consumer of fossil fuels, social-science perspectives on alternative energy carriers, particularly biofuels, have become increasingly important for interdisciplinary transport research. Biofuels can contribute to lower emissions and reduced dependence on finite resources. Their deployment remains contested in social-science debates concerning environmental trade-offs, land-use change, food security and equity within transport systems. Elucidating social determinants of acceptance is essential for informing interdisciplinary transport policy and designing socially robust sustainable-energy strategies. We apply and empirically validate the Technology Acceptance Framework (TAF) to biofuels, linking transport-technology research with the broader social-science literature on technology adoption and sustainability transitions. Using survey data (N = 304) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the framework explained substantial proportions of the variance in acceptance. The analysis confirmed core assumptions of the TAF while revealing important deviations for biofuels. Attitude toward biofuels plays a central role, with additional influences from personal norms, perceived behavioral control, and knowledge. These results highlight that acceptance emerges from the interplay of individual attitudes, personal norms, perceived behavioral control and knowledge, key constructs in social-science theories of transport behavior. Interdisciplinary policy and communication strategies addressing fairness concerns, equity in transport, and public knowledge are required to increase acceptance and support a socially inclusive sustainable-energy transition, providing actionable insights for transport-policy design and ongoing mobility transitions toward low-carbon fuels.