Why and When Airline Passengers Offset Carbon: Environmental Motivation, Perceived Benefits, and Travel Purpose

Carbon offsetting is a critical mechanism for mitigating the environmental impacts of air travel. However, a clear understanding of the mechanisms linking environmental motivation to carbon offsetting behavior across different travel contexts remains limited. This study aimed to examine the influence of environmental motivation on the carbon offsetting behavior of airline passengers by investigating the mediating role of perceived benefit of offsetting and the moderating role of travel purpose. The study adopted the Value–Belief–Norm theory and the Perceived Value concept as its primary theoretical foundations, supplemented by the Theory of Planned Behavior to provide a behavioral interpretation framework. Data were collected from 357 airline passengers in Thailand, with data from 50 passengers utilized for exploratory factor analysis and a non-overlapping dataset of 307 passengers employed for confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling. The results revealed that environmental motivation had a positive influence on perceived benefit of offsetting (β=0.524, p<0.001) and carbon offsetting behavior (β=0.276, p=0.003), while perceived benefit of offsetting positively influenced carbon offsetting behavior (β=0.215, p=0.013) and functioned as a partial mediator (indirect effect =0.113, p=0.028). Furthermore, travel purpose moderated the relationship between environmental motivation and carbon offsetting behavior, with this effect being stronger among business travelers. The findings expand knowledge in sustainable aviation by demonstrating that the translation of environmental motivation into carbon offsetting behavior occurs through both perceived benefit mechanisms and contextual travel conditions, which can be applied to design tailored carbon offsetting promotion interventions for distinct passenger segments.