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Modeling the Desire to Telecommute: The Importance of Attitudinal Factors in Behavioral Models
| Reference Number: UCD-ITS-RP-97-02 Received: January 1997 Series: Reprint |
Suggested Citation:
Mokhtarian, Patricia L. and Ilan Salomon (1997) Modeling the Desire to Telecommute: The Importance of Attitudinal Factors in Behavioral Models. Transportation Research Part A 31 (1), 35 - 50
Abstract: This paper begins to operationalize a previously published conceptual model of the individual decision to telecommute. Using survey data from 628 employees of the City of San Diego, hypothesized drives to telecommute and constraints on/facilitators of telecommuting are measured. A binary logit model of the preference to telecommute from home is estimated, having a ρ2 of 0.68. The explanatory variables include attitudinal and factual information. Factor analysis is performed on two groups of attitudinal questions, identifying a total of 17 (oblique) factors which can be classified as drives and constraints. Additional measures are created from other data in the survey, usually objective sociodemographic characteristics. Variables representing at least four of the five hypothesized drives (work, family, independence/leisure, and travel) are significant in the final model. Variables from four of the ten groups of constraints (Job suitability, social/professional and household interaction concerns, and a perceived benefit of commuting) are significant, primarily representing internal rather than external constraints. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of attitudinal measures over sociodemographic ones, as the same demographic characteristics (such as the presence of children, commute time) will have different effects on preference for different people.
Raney, Elizabeth A., Patricia L. Mokhtarian, Ilan Salomon (2000) Modeling Individuals' Consideration of Strategies to Cope with Congestion. Transportation Research Part F 3 (3), 141 - 165
Abstract: This study continues the examination of a variety of strategies an individual may consider or adopt in response to congestion. It finds further evidence that individuals tend to progress from lower-cost, short-term strategies to higher-cost, longer-term ones as dissatisfaction persists or recurs. There is also a weaker tendency to cycle back to lower-cost strategies, although generally just one tier lower than a previously adopted strategy. Binary logit models of the consideration of each of 15 congestion-response strategies were estimated, as a function of work-, family-, leisure-, and travel-related attitudes, among other explanatory variables. ρ2 goodness-of-fit measures for these models ranged from .16 to .75. Analysis of the contribution of commute-related variables to the consideration of each strategy found that contribution to be significant in fewer than half of the cases (seven out of 15 strategies). With only one exception, the strategies for which commute variables were significant fell into the higher-cost tiers. Commute variables never contributed more than 11% of a model's explanatory power, and generally much less. While other explanatory variables may also be significant for transportation-related reasons, it is clear that individuals adopt and consider the strategies studied here for many reasons other than congestion relief. Further, the transportation-related reasons for considering these strategies may be intertwined in complex ways with non-transportation reasons. One implication of these findings is that policies designed to change transportation behavior may be less powerful than expected, because reactions are filtered through a variety of other motivations and constraints. An improved understanding of the response to these policies must acknowledge and incorporate the complexity of the choice situation facing the typical individual in modern society.