The Impacts of Individual s Attitudes and Policy Beliefs on Travel Behaviors:Evidence from a Developing Country

A great number of studies have tried to recognize the factors which lead to sustainable mobility patterns. In this regard, behavioral theories have introduced subjective factors which can help to better understanding of individuals decision making on their travel behaviors. This study aims to explore the influences of attitudes and policy beliefs on travel patterns as the first effort in Iran. Using statistical analysis of collected data from a sample in Shiraz, Iran, the hypothesis based on the relationships between individuals attitudes, policy beliefs, land use attributes, socio-economic factors and frequencies of non-working trips by private vehicle, public transport, and walking/cycling to different purposes was examined. Utilizing factor analysis, various travel and residential attitudes and policy beliefs extracted and entered as input in six structural equation models. Results indicate significant effects of travel attitudes and policy beliefs on different travel modes in service-shopping and leisure activities. Although, due to the lack of self-selection impacts on respondents’ decision making, residential attitudes did not show an outstanding influence on trip modes in different activities. Moreover, travel modes for two kinds of activities were strongly influenced by socio-economic factors. In this study, land use attributes did not follow the expected influences about the impacts of built environment on travel behavior.

Keywords:

Travel behavior , Individual’s attitudes , Policy beliefs , Non-working trips , Behavioral theory , Developing country