Attitudes and psychological factors affecting commuter’s intention towards future urban rail transport

Abstract

This study presents an application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate the commuter’s behavioral intention towards future sky train usage in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Several psychological factors and socio-economic variables that can potentially help explaining the likelihood of future sky train usage are measured by means of questionnaire survey. Responses are collected from 398 motorcyclists who travel along the Kampuchea Krom and Russian Boulevards, a planned sky train line linking the Central Market in CBD to the airport. The survey is conducted based on psychological constructs, including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, moral obligation, and awareness of consequence. Applying structural equation modeling, it is found that main TPB constructs, i.e. attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, significantly influence the behavioral intention of using future sky train. A further investigation reveals that moral obligation and the awareness of consequences are also found to be significant determinants for the behavioral intention. In addition, to some degrees, socioeconomic variables can also be used to explain the intention. The outcome of the study can help understanding commuter’s current behavioral intention and shed some light on the feasibility of such an investment in terms of potential demand.