"Satisfaction lies in the effort'. Is Ghandhi's quote also true for satisfaction with commuting ?

Veronique Van Acker, Corinne Mulley, Loan Ho

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Research on travel satisfaction in terms of its determinants and in terms of its relationship with subjective well-being has not taken account of the effort in travelling. This paper explicitly considers the role of effort and its three constituent elements (physical, cognitive and affective) by analysing the way each interacts with travel satisfaction and subjective well-being. The context of the study is Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia where respondents answered an internet-based survey. The paper has two main objectives. First to explore the benefit or otherwise of including ‘effort’ in analyses of travel satisfaction: the analysis shows that including effort provides additional explanation. Second, to explore the bidirectional nature of the interaction between travel satisfaction and subjective well-being. The analysis suggests that the bottom-up approach to well-being whereby the link is from travel satisfaction to well-being is stronger. The paper concludes with some policy implications of how transport policy can reduce effort and thereby make sustainable travel more appealing.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages43
Publication statusPublished - 2020
EventThe second Bridging Transportation Researchers Online Free Conference - Online event
Duration: 11 Aug 202012 Aug 2020
http://bridgingtransport.org/

Conference

ConferenceThe second Bridging Transportation Researchers Online Free Conference
Abbreviated titleBTR
Period11/08/2012/08/20
Internet address

Bibliographical note

Paper is currently under review for another journal.

Keywords

  • effort
  • travel satisfaction
  • subjective well-being
  • structural equation modelling
  • public transport

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