Explaining trip generation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological perspective

Milad Mehdizadeh; Mohsen Fallah Zavareh; Trond Nordfjaern

doi:10.1016/j.jth.2022.101390

Explaining trip generation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological perspective

J Transp Health. 2022 Sep:26:101390. doi: 10.1016/j.jth.2022.101390. Epub 2022 May 13.

Authors

Milad Mehdizadeh¹, Mohsen Fallah Zavareh², Trond Nordfjaern¹

Affiliations

¹ Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Psychology, Trondheim, Norway.
² Kharazmi University, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: The present study investigated the extent of reduction in the generation of non-essential trips (i.e., for shopping, personal, social, and entertainment reasons) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of psychological factors (including deliberate planning and personal moral obligations) in explaining the change.

Method: We collected data through an internet survey conducted from April to June 2020. We recruited the respondents (N = 369) from a young segment of the population in Iran. The hypothesised model framework included the components of the theory of planned behaviour (including attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intention to reduce non-essential trips) along with personal moral obligation. The framework also consisted of socio-demographic characteristics of age, gender, income, car ownership and trip distance. A structural equation model was developed to explain trip reduction at an aggregated level for four non-essential trip purposes (i.e., shopping, personal, social, and entertainment). In the aggregated model, trip-reducing behaviour represents the change in the number of trips for all non-essential purposes. We also tested the same framework, to explain trip reduction for each of the trip purposes, separately.

Results: On average, the study participants reduced their non-essential trips by 60% during the pandemic compared with in the pre-COVID-19 period. Men were less likely than women to reduce the rate of their trips during the pandemic. The SEM demonstrated that the theory of planned behaviour predicted trip-generation behaviour during the abnormal situation represented by the pandemic. Perceived behavioural control both directly and indirectly impacted trip reduction. However, personal moral obligations failed to provide a direct explanation for trip generation reduction. According to the hypothesised model, the results for different trip purposes were also mostly in line with those from the aggregated model.

Conclusions: The findings imply that participants in our sample made deliberate and planned psychological decisions (aligned with the theory of planned behaviour) regarding potential travel behavioural decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also highlighted that perceived behavioural control grows in importance alongside growth in difficult circumstances.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; SARS-CoV-2; Travel behaviour; Trip generation.