Sustainable Mobility Transitions in Academic Hubs: A PLS-SEM Analysis of Student Intentions in Baia Mare

Abstract

The global environmental crisis and the United Nations 2030 Agenda place Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) at the forefront of sustainability transitions. This study examines the key factors influencing sustainable mobility adoption among students at the North University Centre of Baia Mare, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, (CUNBM) a medium-sized academic hub underrepresented in the empirical literature on sustainable transport behaviour. The research adopts a quantitative design grounded in an adapted Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), investigating how environmental awareness, sustainability beliefs, perceived ease of use, and infrastructure quality — framed within the '15-minute city' paradigm — shape students' intention to use sustainable transport modes. The model further incorporates adverse weather as a contextual moderator of ease-of-use perceptions. Data were collected between March and May 2026 via a structured digital questionnaire across three university campuses (Engineering, Arts and Sciences), with latent constructs measured through 5-point Likert scales. The model was estimated using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), selected for its predictive robustness in complex behavioural frameworks. Findings reveal that perceived infrastructure quality (? = 0.417) and 15-minute city accessibility (? = 0.281) are significant antecedents of ease of use, while adverse weather exerts no significant moderating effect on behavioural intention. Because the weather construct did not meet conventional reliability standards and data were collected outside the winter season, this null result is interpreted as inconclusive rather than as evidence that weather is irrelevant; the pattern of results is nonetheless consistent with mobility barriers in this context being structural rather than meteorological.

Keywords: sustainable mobility, technology acceptance model (TAM), partial least squares structural equation modelling, 15-minute city, higher education, student behavioural intentions, Eastern Europe