IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v135y2020icp341-353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Fenglong
  • Mao, Zidan
  • Wang, Donggen

Abstract

Despite increasing interests in travel-related subjective well-being in transport research, few studies have explored the effects of residential environment on travel satisfaction, especially how travel satisfaction may change after residential relocation. This study investigates whether and how residential relocation leads to changes in travel satisfaction. Using a two-wave questionnaire survey conducted from 2011 to 2013 in Beijing, we compare home movers’ travel satisfaction before and after residential relocation, and further examine how changes in the built environment and that in travel behavior lead to changes in travel satisfaction, taking into consideration the travel-related motivation for home relocation. We find that almost 70% movers reported improvement in travel satisfaction after relocation, suggesting that residential relocation may serve as an opportunity to enhance travel satisfaction; improved neighborhood environments explain increases in travel satisfaction: higher accessibility to facilities, better physical design, enhanced safety and more interactions between neighbors contribute to improved travel satisfaction. On the other hand, increased travel time by transit reduces travel satisfaction. We also find out that relocation motivated by travel-related reasons did not lead to a significant improvement in travel satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by appreciating the role of neighborhood environment in improving travel experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Fenglong & Mao, Zidan & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 341-353.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:135:y:2020:i:c:p:341-353
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2020.03.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856418308358
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2020.03.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David T. Ory & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Lothlorien S. Redmond & Ilan Salomon & Gustavo O. Collantes & Sangho Choo, 2004. "When is Commuting Desirable to the Individual?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 334-359, September.
    2. Bergstad, Cecilia Jakobsson & Gamble, Amelie & Hagman, Olle & Polk, Merritt & Gärling, Tommy & Olsson, Lars E., 2011. "Affective–symbolic and instrumental–independence psychological motives mediating effects of socio-demographic variables on daily car use," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 33-38.
    3. Manaugh, Kevin & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2013. "Does distance matter? Exploring the links among values, motivations, home location, and satisfaction in walking trips," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 198-208.
    4. Cecilia Bergstad & Amelie Gamble & Tommy Gärling & Olle Hagman & Merritt Polk & Dick Ettema & Margareta Friman & Lars Olsson, 2011. "Subjective well-being related to satisfaction with daily travel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Shatu, Farjana Mostafiz & Hine, Julian & Turrell, Gavin, 2015. "Commuting mode choice in transit oriented development: Disentangling the effects of competitive neighbourhoods, travel attitudes, and self-selection," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 187-196.
    6. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    7. Wang, Donggen & Chai, Yanwei & Li, Fei, 2011. "Built environment diversities and activity–travel behaviour variations in Beijing, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1173-1186.
    8. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Cao, Xinyu, 2008. "Examining the impacts of residential self-selection on travel behavior: A focus on methodologies," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 204-228, March.
    9. Gerber, Philippe & Ma, Tai-Yu & Klein, Olivier & Schiebel, Julien & Carpentier-Postel, Samuel, 2017. "Cross-border residential mobility, quality of life and modal shift: A Luxembourg case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 238-254.
    10. Luis Diaz-Serrano & Alexandrina P. Stoyanova, 2010. "Mobility and housing satisfaction: an empirical analysis for 12 EU countries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(5), pages 661-683, September.
    11. Susanne Nordbakke & Tim Schwanen, 2014. "Well-being and Mobility: A Theoretical Framework and Literature Review Focusing on Older People," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 104-129, February.
    12. Eriksson, Lars & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy, 2013. "Perceived attributes of bus and car mediating satisfaction with the work commute," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 87-96.
    13. Ettema, Dick & Nieuwenhuis, Roy, 2017. "Residential self-selection and travel behaviour: What are the effects of attitudes, reasons for location choice and the built environment?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 146-155.
    14. Páez, Antonio & Whalen, Kate, 2010. "Enjoyment of commute: A comparison of different transportation modes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 537-549, August.
    15. Giles-Corti, Billie & Bull, Fiona & Knuiman, Matthew & McCormack, Gavin & Van Niel, Kimberly & Timperio, Anna & Christian, Hayley & Foster, Sarah & Divitini, Mark & Middleton, Nick & Boruff, Bryan, 2013. "The influence of urban design on neighbourhood walking following residential relocation: Longitudinal results from the RESIDE study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 20-30.
    16. Bhat, Chandra R. & Guo, Jessica Y., 2007. "A comprehensive analysis of built environment characteristics on household residential choice and auto ownership levels," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 506-526, June.
    17. Kennon Sheldon & Sonja Lyubomirsky, 2006. "Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, not Your Circumstances," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 55-86, March.
    18. Jonas De Vos & Tim Schwanen & Veronique Van Acker & Frank Witlox, 2013. "Travel and Subjective Well-Being: A Focus on Findings, Methods and Future Research Needs," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 421-442, July.
    19. Ralph Buehler & Andrea Hamre, 2015. "The multimodal majority? Driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation use among American adults," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(6), pages 1081-1101, November.
    20. Patricia Mokhtarian & Francis Papon & Matthieu Goulard & Marco Diana, 2015. "What makes travel pleasant and/or tiring? An investigation based on the French National Travel Survey," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(6), pages 1103-1128, November.
    21. Wang, Dongeen & Lin, Tao, 2014. "Residential self-selection, built environment, and travel behavior in the Chinese context," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 7(3), pages 5-14.
    22. Klinger, Thomas, 2017. "Moving from monomodality to multimodality? Changes in mode choice of new residents," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 221-237.
    23. Tim Schwanen & Donggen Wang, 2014. "Well-Being, Context, and Everyday Activities in Space and Time," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 104(4), pages 833-851, July.
    24. Cao, Jason & Ettema, Dick, 2014. "Satisfaction with travel and residential self-selection: How do preferences moderate the impact of the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line?," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 7(3), pages 93-108.
    25. Stradling, Stephen G. & Anable, Jillian & Carreno, Michael, 2007. "Performance, importance and user disgruntlement: A six-step method for measuring satisfaction with travel modes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 98-106, January.
    26. Yang, Min & Wu, Jingxian & Rasouli, Soora & Cirillo, Cinzia & Li, Dawei, 2017. "Exploring the impact of residential relocation on modal shift in commute trips: Evidence from a quasi-longitudinal analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 142-152.
    27. Lin, Tao & Wang, Donggen & Guan, Xiaodong, 2017. "The built environment, travel attitude, and travel behavior: Residential self-selection or residential determination?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 111-122.
    28. Mao, Zidan & Ettema, Dick & Dijst, Martin, 2016. "Commuting trip satisfaction in Beijing: Exploring the influence of multimodal behavior and modal flexibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 592-603.
    29. Eric Morris & Erick Guerra, 2015. "Mood and mode: does how we travel affect how we feel?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 25-43, January.
    30. Carreira, Rui & Patrício, Lia & Natal Jorge, Renato & Magee, Chris, 2014. "Understanding the travel experience and its impact on attitudes, emotions and loyalty towards the transportation provider–A quantitative study with mid-distance bus trips," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 35-46.
    31. Frank, Lawrence Douglas & Saelens, Brian E. & Powell, Ken E. & Chapman, James E., 2007. "Stepping towards causation: Do built environments or neighborhood and travel preferences explain physical activity, driving, and obesity?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1898-1914, November.
    32. Ettema, Dick & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy & Olsson, Lars E. & Fujii, Satoshi, 2012. "How in-vehicle activities affect work commuters’ satisfaction with public transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 215-222.
    33. Friman, Margareta & Fujii, Satoshi & Ettema, Dick & Gärling, Tommy & Olsson, Lars E., 2013. "Psychometric analysis of the satisfaction with travel scale," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 132-145.
    34. Maarten van Ham & William A V Clark, 2009. "Neighbourhood Mobility in Context: Household Moves and Changing Neighbourhoods in the Netherlands," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(6), pages 1442-1459, June.
    35. Lars Olsson & Tommy Gärling & Dick Ettema & Margareta Friman & Satoshi Fujii, 2013. "Happiness and Satisfaction with Work Commute," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 255-263, March.
    36. Xinyu Cao & Patricia Mokhtarian & Susan Handy, 2007. "Do changes in neighborhood characteristics lead to changes in travel behavior? A structural equations modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 535-556, September.
    37. Handy, Susan & Cao, Xinyu & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2005. "Correlation or causality between the built environment and travel behavior? Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5b76c5kg, University of California Transportation Center.
    38. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.
    39. Clark, Ben & Chatterjee, Kiron & Melia, Steve, 2016. "Changes to commute mode: The role of life events, spatial context and environmental attitude," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 89-105.
    40. Bert van Wee, 2009. "Self‐Selection: A Key to a Better Understanding of Location Choices, Travel Behaviour and Transport Externalities?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 279-292, January.
    41. Joachim Scheiner & Christian Holz-Rau, 2013. "Changes in travel mode use after residential relocation: a contribution to mobility biographies," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 431-458, February.
    42. Farber, Steven & Páez, Antonio, 2011. "Running to stay in place: the time-use implications of automobile oriented land-use and travel," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 782-793.
    43. Fenglong Wang & Donggen Wang, 2020. "Changes in residential satisfaction after home relocation: A longitudinal study in Beijing, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 583-601, February.
    44. Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy & Ettema, Dick & Olsson, Lars E., 2017. "How does travel affect emotional well-being and life satisfaction?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 170-180.
    45. Rice, Nigel & Carr-Hill, Roy & Dixon, Paul & Sutton, Matthew, 1998. "The influence of households on drinking behaviour: a multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 971-979, April.
    46. Naoki Nakazato & Ulrich Schimmack & Shigehiro Oishi, 2011. "Effect of Changes in Living Conditions on Well-Being: A Prospective Top–Down Bottom–Up Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 115-135, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gupta, Akshay & Bivina, G.R. & Parida, Manoranjan, 2022. "Does neighborhood design matter for walk access to metro stations? An integrated SEM-Hybrid discrete mode choice approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 61-77.
    2. Jooseok Oh, 2020. "Residential Mobility and Quality of Life between Metropolitan Areas: The Case of South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-14, October.
    3. Zhenzhen Xu & Chunfu Shao & Shengyou Wang & Chunjiao Dong, 2020. "Analysis and Prediction Model of Resident Travel Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-15, September.
    4. Tao, Yinhua & van Ham, Maarten & Petrović, Ana & Ta, Na, 2023. "A household perspective on the commuting paradox: Longitudinal relationships between commuting time and subjective wellbeing for couples in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    5. Sheng, Lu & Wu, Xiao & He, Yan, 2023. "Impact of residential relocation on activity-travel behaviors between household couples: A case study of Kunming, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. De Vos, Jonas & Mouratidis, Kostas & Cheng, Long & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2021. "Does a residential relocation enable satisfying travel?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 188-201.
    7. Weng, JianCheng & Yu, JiangBo & Di, XiaoJian & Lin, PengFei & Wang, Jing-Jing & Mao, Li-Zeng, 2023. "How does the state of bus operations influence passengers’ service satisfaction? A method considering the differences in passenger preferences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.
    2. De Vos, Jonas & Mouratidis, Kostas & Cheng, Long & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2021. "Does a residential relocation enable satisfying travel?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 188-201.
    3. De Vos, Jonas, 2018. "Do people travel with their preferred travel mode? Analysing the extent of travel mode dissonance and its effect on travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 261-274.
    4. Dong Wei & Xiaoshu Cao & Miaomiao Wang, 2019. "What Determines the Psychological Well-Being during Commute in Xi’an: The Role of Built Environment, Travel Attitude, and Travel Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Lades, Leonhard K. & Kelly, Andrew & Kelleher, Luke, 2020. "Why is active travel more satisfying than motorized travel? Evidence from Dublin," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 318-333.
    6. Zhu, Jing & Fan, Yingling, 2018. "Daily travel behavior and emotional well-being: Effects of trip mode, duration, purpose, and companionship," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 360-373.
    7. Hook, Hannah & De Vos, Jonas & Van Acker, Veronique & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "Do travel options influence how commute time satisfaction relates to the residential built environment?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Li, Shengxiao (Alex) & Guan, Xiaodong & Wang, Donggen, 2022. "How do constrained car ownership and car use influence travel and life satisfaction?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 202-218.
    9. Van Acker, Veronique & Ho, Loan & Mulley, Corinne, 2021. "“Satisfaction lies in the effort”. Is Gandhi’s quote also true for satisfaction with commuting?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 214-227.
    10. Jonas De Vos & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Tim Schwanen & Veronique Van Acker & Frank Witlox, 2016. "Travel mode choice and travel satisfaction: bridging the gap between decision utility and experienced utility," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 771-796, September.
    11. van de Coevering, Paul & Maat, Kees & van Wee, Bert, 2018. "Residential self-selection, reverse causality and residential dissonance. A latent class transition model of interactions between the built environment, travel attitudes and travel behavior," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 466-479.
    12. Ingvardson, Jesper Bláfoss & Nielsen, Otto Anker, 2019. "The relationship between norms, satisfaction and public transport use: A comparison across six European cities using structural equation modelling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 37-57.
    13. Morris, Eric A., 2015. "Should we all just stay home? Travel, out-of-home activities, and life satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 519-536.
    14. De Vos, Jonas & Ettema, Dick & Witlox, Frank, 2018. "Changing travel behaviour and attitudes following a residential relocation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-147.
    15. Donggen Wang & Tao Lin, 2019. "Built environment, travel behavior, and residential self-selection: a study based on panel data from Beijing, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 51-74, February.
    16. Tae-Hyoung Tommy Gim, 2023. "Residential self-selection or socio-ecological interaction? the effects of sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics on the built environment–travel behavior relationship," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1347-1398, August.
    17. De Vos, Jonas & Singleton, Patrick A., 2020. "Travel and cognitive dissonance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 525-536.
    18. Mouratidis, Kostas & Ettema, Dick & Næss, Petter, 2019. "Urban form, travel behavior, and travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 306-320.
    19. Eric Morris & Erick Guerra, 2015. "Mood and mode: does how we travel affect how we feel?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 25-43, January.
    20. Md. Kamruzzaman & Simon Washington & Douglas Baker & Wendy Brown & Billie Giles-Corti & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "Built environment impacts on walking for transport in Brisbane, Australia," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:135:y:2020:i:c:p:341-353. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.