Trains in the Land of the Car: A Case Study of Mobility as Agency in the United States

Recent studies have shown that self-efficacy—the belief that individuals are able to execute behaviors that lead to desired outcomes—is a key factor for adopting more sustainable travel modes and practices. Also crucial are societal values and policies associated with sustainability, which guide individual mobility behaviors. Thus, sustainable travel research and policies are divided into hard and soft approaches. This study applies Albert Bandura’s concept of personal agency and his model of triadic reciprocal causation (TRC) to explore mobility as agency from the perspective of 32 car users from regions, which no longer have an adequate passenger rail infrastructure. The aim is to investigate the applicability of TRC theory in a US context, as well as a substantive study of how car users make sense of their mobility practices in relation to trains. Based on hermeneutic content analysis, a mixed-method analytic framework, findings reveal that Bandura’s agentive pathways associated with individual and proxy agency define the mobility practices of interviewees. By exploring the underlying structures of salient agentive pathways, this study traces the links between agency and (un)sustainable travel within a US American mobility culture.