IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v147y2021icp49-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring shopping travel behavior of millennials in Beijing: Impacts of built environment, life stages, and subjective preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Yixue
  • Zhao, Pengjun
  • Lin, Jen-Jia

Abstract

China’s cities have witnessed rapid growth of the consumption economy in recent years. The millennials (defined in this study as those born between 1980 and 2000, also known as Generation Y) have become one of the main forces of domestic consumption. Thus, shopping trips of millennials significantly influence the transportation sector in the context of the consumption society. Previous studies intensively investigated the determinants of non-work travel. However, only a few empirical analyses were conducted on the shopping travel behavior of millennials in China’s cities. In addition, few studies integrated the influence of life stages and shopping habits in their analysis of travel behavior. The purpose of the study is to fill these research gaps by taking Beijing as a case. By using travel survey data in Beijing, this study explores the characteristics and determinants of shopping travel by millennials. A multinomial logistic (MNL) model is applied to investigate the travel mode choice of millennials for shopping purposes. A latent class (LC) model is used to further specify segment preferences according to individual life stages and shopping habits. The impacts of several major factors are addressed. These factors include neighborhood built environments, individual subjective attitudes toward travel, and household attributes. Results show that the completed commercial facilities and public transportation connections surrounding the neighborhoods would encourage shopping by walking or cycling. The findings and conclusions could enhance the knowledge of millennials’ travel behavior and contribute to policy-making to encourage sustainable transport by integrating land use and transportation planning strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Yixue & Zhao, Pengjun & Lin, Jen-Jia, 2021. "Exploring shopping travel behavior of millennials in Beijing: Impacts of built environment, life stages, and subjective preferences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 49-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:147:y:2021:i:c:p:49-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2021.03.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856421000707
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2021.03.012?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. Ralph, Kelcie & Voulgaris, Carole Turley & Taylor, Brian D. & Blumenberg, Evelyn & Brown, Anne E., 2016. "Millennials, built form, and travel insights from a nationwide typology of U.S. neighborhoods," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 218-226.
    2. Yusak O. Susilo & Nathan Hanks & Mahmud Ullah, 2013. "An exploration of shoppers travel mode choice in visiting convenience stores in the UK," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(8), pages 669-684, December.
    3. Greene, William H. & Hensher, David A., 2003. "A latent class model for discrete choice analysis: contrasts with mixed logit," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 681-698, September.
    4. Sarrias, Mauricio & Daziano, Ricardo, 2017. "Multinomial Logit Models with Continuous and Discrete Individual Heterogeneity in R: The gmnl Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 79(i02).
    5. Cao, Xinyu (Jason) & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2009. "The relationship between the built environment and nonwork travel: A case study of Northern California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 548-559, June.
    6. Venu M. Garikapati & Ram M. Pendyala & Eric A. Morris & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Noreen McDonald, 2016. "Activity patterns, time use, and travel of millennials: a generation in transition?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(5), pages 558-584, September.
    7. Lissitsa, Sabina & Kol, Ofrit, 2016. "Generation X vs. Generation Y – A decade of online shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 304-312.
    8. Alexa Delbosc & Graham Currie, 2013. "Causes of Youth Licensing Decline: A Synthesis of Evidence," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 271-290, May.
    9. Paulley, Neil & Balcombe, Richard & Mackett, Roger & Titheridge, Helena & Preston, John & Wardman, Mark & Shires, Jeremy & White, Peter, 2006. "The demand for public transport: The effects of fares, quality of service, income and car ownership," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 295-306, July.
    10. Klein, Nicholas J. & Smart, Michael J., 2017. "Millennials and car ownership: Less money, fewer cars," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 20-29.
    11. David Metz, 2013. "Peak Car and Beyond: The Fourth Era of Travel," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 255-270, May.
    12. Liu, Zhiqiang, 2005. "Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 133-157, March.
    13. Thigpen, Calvin & Handy, Susan, 2018. "Driver's licensing delay: A retrospective case study of the impact of attitudes, parental and social influences, and intergenerational differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 24-40.
    14. Tobias Kuhnimhof & Dirk Zumkeller & Bastian Chlond, 2013. "Who Made Peak Car, and How? A Breakdown of Trends over Four Decades in Four Countries," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 325-342, May.
    15. Matthew J. Haught & Ran Wei & Yang Xuerui & Jin Zhang, 2014. "Understanding the Psychology of Mobile Phone Use and Mobile Shopping of the 1990s Cohort in China: A Lifestyle Approach," International Journal of Online Marketing (IJOM), IGI Global, vol. 4(3), pages 68-84, July.
    16. Morris, Eric A. & Blumenberg, Evelyn & Guerra, Erick, 2020. "Does lacking a car put the brakes on activity participation? Private vehicle access and access to opportunities among low-income adults," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 375-397.
    17. Alexia Prskawetz & Jiang Leiwen & Brian C. O Neill, 2004. "Demographic composition and projections of car use in Austria," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 175-202.
    18. Tobias Kuhnimhof & Jimmy Armoogum & Ralph Buehler & Joyce Dargay & Jon Martin Denstadli & Toshiyuki Yamamoto, 2012. "Men Shape a Downward Trend in Car Use among Young Adults—Evidence from Six Industrialized Countries," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 761-779, September.
    19. Sanders, Rebecca L & Cooper, Jill F, 2013. "Do All Roadway Users Want the Same Things?," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt1zn7w26v, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    20. Feng, Jianxi & Dijst, Martin & Wissink, Bart & Prillwitz, Jan, 2013. "The impacts of household structure on the travel behaviour of seniors and young parents in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 117-126.
    21. Shen, Qing & Chen, Peng & Pan, Haixiao, 2016. "Factors affecting car ownership and mode choice in rail transit-supported suburbs of a large Chinese city," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 31-44.
    22. Susilo, Yusak O. & Hanks, Nathan & Ullah, Mahmud, 2013. "An exploration of shoppers travel mode choice in visiting convenience stores in the United Kingdom," Working papers in Transport Economics 2013:20, CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI).
    23. Wu, Lingling & Zhang, Junyi & Fujiwara, Akimasa, 2011. "Representing tourists’ heterogeneous choices of destination and travel party with an integrated latent class and nested logit model," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1407-1413.
    24. Kuhnimhof, Tobias & Buehler, Ralph & Wirtz, Matthias & Kalinowska, Dominika, 2012. "Travel trends among young adults in Germany: increasing multimodality and declining car use for men," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 443-450.
    25. Alexa Delbosc & Graham Currie, 2014. "Changing demographics and young adult driver license decline in Melbourne, Australia (1994–2009)," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 529-542, May.
    26. Dargay, Joyce M, 2001. "The effect of income on car ownership: evidence of asymmetry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 807-821, November.
    27. Nolan, Anne, 2010. "A dynamic analysis of household car ownership," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 446-455, July.
    28. Marlon G. Boarnet & Sharon Sarmiento, 1998. "Can Land-use Policy Really Affect Travel Behaviour? A Study of the Link between Non-work Travel and Land-use Characteristics," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(7), pages 1155-1169, June.
    29. Blumenberg, Evelyn & Ralph, Kelcie & Smart, Michael & Taylor, Brian D., 2016. "Who knows about kids these days? Analyzing the determinants of youth and adult mobility in the U.S. between 1990 and 2009," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 39-54.
    30. Susan Handy & Kelly Clifton, 2001. "Local shopping as a strategy for reducing automobile travel," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 317-346, November.
    31. Junyi Shen, 2009. "Latent class model or mixed logit model? A comparison by transport mode choice data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(22), pages 2915-2924.
    32. Shang Gao & John Krogstie & Zhihao Chen & Wenyan Zhou, 2014. "Lifestyles and Mobile Services Adoption in China," International Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR), IGI Global, vol. 10(3), pages 36-53, July.
    33. Giuliano, Genevieve & Dargay, Joyce, 2006. "Car ownership, travel and land use: a comparison of the US and Great Britain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 106-124, February.
    34. Wang, Kailai & Akar, Gulsah & Chen, Yu-Jen, 2018. "Bike sharing differences among Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers: Lessons learnt from New York City’s bike share," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-14.
    35. Paul M. Ong, 2002. "Car ownership and welfare-to-work," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 239-252.
    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. Marta Borowska-Stefańska & Michał Kowalski & Anna Majewska & Szymon Wiśniewski, 2022. "Changes in Costs Incurred by Car Users of the Local Transport System Due to the Implementation of Sunday Retail Restrictions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Marta Borowska-Stefańska & Maxim A. Dulebenets & Michał Kowalski & Filip Turoboś & Szymon Wiśniewski, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Daily Mobility of the Elderly Living in Small Cities in Lodz Province," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Marta Borowska-Stefańska & Michał Kowalski & Paulina Kurzyk & Alireza Sahebgharani & Szymon Wiśniewski, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Changeability of the Load of the Urban Road Transport System under Permanent and Short-Term Legal and Administrative Retail Restrictions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-30, April.
    4. Mimi Tian & Zhixing Li & Qinan Xia & Yu Peng & Tianlong Cao & Tianmei Du & Zeyu Xing, 2022. "Walking in China’s Historical and Cultural Streets: The Factors Affecting Pedestrian Walking Behavior and Walking Experience," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-25, September.
    5. Nabipour, Mohammad & Rosenberg, Mark W. & Nasseri, Seyed Hadi, 2022. "The built environment, networks design, and safety features: An analysis of pedestrian commuting behavior in intermediate-sized cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 14-23.

    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. Zhao, Pengjun & Zhang, Yixue, 2018. "Travel behaviour and life course: Examining changes in car use after residential relocation in Beijing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 41-53.
    2. De Vos, Jonas & Alemi, Farzad, 2020. "Are young adults car-loving urbanites? Comparing young and older adults’ residential location choice, travel behavior and attitudes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 986-998.
    3. Kailai Wang & Xize Wang, 2022. "Generational Differences in Automobility: Comparing America's Millennials and Gen Xers Using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees," Papers 2206.11056, arXiv.org.
    4. Krueger, Rico & Rashidi, Taha H. & Vij, Akshay, 2018. "X vs. Y: An Analysis of Intergenerational Differences in Transport Mode Use Among Young Adults," SocArXiv unezy, Center for Open Science.
    5. Wang, Xize, 2019. "Has the relationship between urban and suburban automobile travel changed across generations? Comparing Millennials and Generation Xers in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 107-122.
    6. Haseeb, Attiya & Mitra, Raktim, 2023. "Do environmentally sustainable travel behaviours contribute to transportation-related social exclusion?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Figueroa, Maria J. & Nielsen, Thomas A. Sick & Siren, Anu, 2014. "Comparing urban form correlations of the travel patterns of older and younger adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 10-20.
    8. Xize Wang, 2022. "Has the Relationship between Urban and Suburban Automobile Travel Changed across Generations? Comparing Millennials and Generation Xers in the United States," Papers 2206.10601, arXiv.org.
    9. Nash, Sean & Mitra, Raktim, 2019. "University students' transportation patterns, and the role of neighbourhood types and attitudes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 200-211.
    10. Richard Grimal, 2018. "Are The Millenials Less Car-Oriented ? Literature Review And Empirical Findings," Post-Print hal-02164941, HAL.
    11. Monteiro, Mayara Moraes & de Abreu e Silva, João & Haustein, Sonja & Pinho de Sousa, Jorge, 2021. "Urban travel behavior adaptation of temporary transnational residents," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    12. Delbosc, Alexa & Naznin, Farhana, 2019. "Future life course and mobility: A latent class analysis of young adults in Victoria, Australia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 104-116.
    13. Ali Etezady & F. Atiyya Shaw & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Giovanni Circella, 2021. "What drives the gap? Applying the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method to examine generational differences in transportation-related attitudes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 857-883, April.
    14. Rico Krueger & Taha H. Rashidi & Akshay Vij, 2020. "X vs. Y: an analysis of intergenerational differences in transport mode use among young adults," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2203-2231, October.
    15. Ralph, Kelcie & Delbosc, Alexa, 2017. "I’m multimodal, aren’t you? How ego-centric anchoring biases experts’ perceptions of travel patterns," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 283-293.
    16. Xiaoquan Wang & Chunfu Shao & Chaoying Yin & Chengxiang Zhuge & Wenjun Li, 2018. "Application of Bayesian Multilevel Models Using Small and Medium Size City in China: The Case of Changchun," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, February.
    17. Klein, Nicholas J. & Smart, Michael J., 2017. "Millennials and car ownership: Less money, fewer cars," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 20-29.
    18. Delbosc, Alexa & Nakanishi, Hitomi, 2017. "A life course perspective on the travel of Australian millennials," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 319-336.
    19. Bastian, Anne & Börjesson, Maria & Eliasson, Jonas, 2016. "Explaining “peak car” with economic variables," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 236-250.
    20. Deka, Devajyoti, 2018. "Exploration of millennials' perception of spending on cities, mass transit, and highways," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 224-232.

    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:147:y:2021:i:c:p:49-60. 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.