Authors - Rhytheema Dulloo, Kirti Biradar, Srijaa M Abstract - The aviation industry faces mounting pressure to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, yet passenger adoption of sustainable aviation practices remains inconsistent, highlighting the urgent need to understand the psychological and behavioral factors influencing passenger decision-making in sustainable aviation contexts. This study develops and tests an integrated theoretical framework combining Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory, and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore how environmental values, technology perceptions, and travel context shape attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. A quantitative cross-sectional study of 847 airline passengers across seven metropolitan hubs in India was conducted. Environmental values emerged as the strongest predictor of attitudes toward sustainable aviation behavior (β = 0.42, p < 0.001), while the integrated model explained 62% of variance in behavioral intentions and 34% in actual behavior. Perceived usefulness and ease of use were found to significantly affect sustainable aviation technology acceptance and TPB constructs effectively predicted behavioral intention and actual behavior towards sustainable aviation, with per-sonal norms adding further explanatory power. Significant differences were found between business and leisure travelers, with leisure travelers showing stronger relationships between environmental values and attitudes (p = 0.032) and between intentions and behavior (p = 0.007), while the intention-behavior gap was more pronounced among business travelers, highlighting structural barriers to sustainable aviation adoption. The findings suggest that airlines should adopt differentiated strategies, with sustainability messaging emphasizing personal environmental responsibility for leisure travelers, while structural interventions such as corporate partnerships and policy changes are needed for business travelers to address organizational barriers. This study provides the first comprehensive integration of TPB, VBN, and TAM theories in sustainable aviation contexts, offering novel insights into travel context moderation effects and actionable guidance for industry stakeholders seeking to enhance passenger adoption of sustainable aviation practices.
