Publication Detail
Who Likes Traveling? Models of the Individual's Affinity for Various Kinds of Travel
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UCD-ITS-RR-04-20 Research Report Download PDF |
Suggested Citation:
Ory, David T. and Patricia L. Mokhtarian (2004) Who Likes Traveling? Models of the Individual's Affinity for Various Kinds of Travel. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-04-20
This report is part of an ongoing research program investigating the mobility and attitudes towards travel of individuals. The portion of the research presented here derives relationships between measures of Travel Liking (how much an individual likes travel, differentiated by trip purpose, mode, and length) and other variables in the data.
The general conclusion from the modeling is that attitudes and personality are important factors in describing travel behavior. The previous single-equation models of Objective Mobility, Subjective Mobility and Relative Desired Mobility indicated Travel Liking measures to be key explanatory variables. Here, Travel Liking is shown to be primarily a function of Attitude, Lifestyle, and Personality variables. Just as previous research suggested that attitudes are an important factor in mode choice (those who do not like public transit, for whatever reason, probably will not choose a transit mode even if it offers better service than an automobile), the research presented here, along with the companion Objective Mobility, Subjective Mobility, and Relative Desired Mobility reports, suggests that attitudes towards travel itself, along with inherent differences in personality and lifestyle, can influence the amount of travel in which an individual engages, or wishes to engage. Such results have important policy implications as they offer increased insight into why not all individuals will react similarly when faced with travel-reducing policies, such as the promotion of telecommuting alternatives.
The general conclusion from the modeling is that attitudes and personality are important factors in describing travel behavior. The previous single-equation models of Objective Mobility, Subjective Mobility and Relative Desired Mobility indicated Travel Liking measures to be key explanatory variables. Here, Travel Liking is shown to be primarily a function of Attitude, Lifestyle, and Personality variables. Just as previous research suggested that attitudes are an important factor in mode choice (those who do not like public transit, for whatever reason, probably will not choose a transit mode even if it offers better service than an automobile), the research presented here, along with the companion Objective Mobility, Subjective Mobility, and Relative Desired Mobility reports, suggests that attitudes towards travel itself, along with inherent differences in personality and lifestyle, can influence the amount of travel in which an individual engages, or wishes to engage. Such results have important policy implications as they offer increased insight into why not all individuals will react similarly when faced with travel-reducing policies, such as the promotion of telecommuting alternatives.