Author
Listed:
- Thiago Carvalho dos Reis Silveira
- Cezar Augusto Romano
- Tatiana Maria Cecy Gadda
Abstract
Cities are becoming more and more car-dependent. In tandem, public transit systems are facing an increasing loss of ridership. In this scenario, researchers have started investigating loyalty behaviour to understand what encourages user retention. This paper reviews the academic literature on loyalty formation in public transit, including (i) the research context; (ii) the methods applied and the assessment of heterogeneity; (iii) the conceptualisation and operationalisation of loyalty; and (iv) the influence of researched constructs on loyalty. Finally, potential avenues for future research are highlighted. The literature is largely concentrated in Asia, North America, and Europe. Most studies use a combination of quantitative data, cross-sectional design combined with survey data collection, modelling, and, to a lesser extent, clustering. In this sense, structural equation modelling (SEM) is broadly applied. The loyalty construct is usually operationalised according to attitudinal variables, while behavioural measures are less assessed. The research on this field is strongly influenced by marketing theory. Consequently, service quality, satisfaction, and perceived value are often modelled. Both satisfaction and service quality are repeatedly shown to have a strong positive influence on the development of loyalty. Nonetheless, the operationalisation of these constructs can differ greatly across studies, which makes it harder to compare the findings. Additionally, most SEM studies only report direct effects, which inhibit assessing the full influence of the variables on loyalty. There are also small clusters of research on other variables, such as image, involvement, problem experiences, and social psychology variables. To different degrees, these constructs are found to influence loyalty. Sometimes, even to a greater extent than service quality and satisfaction. In this sense, future research could benefit from further exploring these less research variables as they can bring new theoretical and operational perspectives to the current understanding of loyalty behaviour.
Suggested Citation
Thiago Carvalho dos Reis Silveira & Cezar Augusto Romano & Tatiana Maria Cecy Gadda, 2022.
"Loyalty and public transit: a quantitative systematic review of the literature,"
Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 362-383, May.
Handle:
RePEc:taf:transr:v:42:y:2022:i:3:p:362-383
DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2021.1991032
Download full text from publisher
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.
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:taf:transr:v:42:y:2022:i:3:p:362-383. 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.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TTRV20 .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.