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Investigating changes in within-person effects between attitudes and travel behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

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  • Faber, R.M.
  • de Haas, M.C.
  • Molin, E.J.E.
  • Kroesen, M.

Abstract

Attitudes have been used as explanatory variables of travel behaviour for decades, typically under the assumption that there is a causal effect of attitudes on behaviour. However, recent research has shown that the relationship between attitudes and travel behaviour is bi-directional. In this study we use a longitudinal modelling technique on panel data to 1) separate within-person effects from between-person associations and 2) test whether the within-person effects changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the within-person effects were weaker during the pandemic than they were before the pandemic. In addition, the within-person effects were much smaller than would be expected based on methods that do not separate within-person effects from between-person associations. This means that researchers should be careful when basing policy recommendations on cross-sectional correlations between attitudes and behaviour for two reasons: first, the problem of endogeneity, and second, the highly relevant separation of within-person effects from between-person relations.

Suggested Citation

  • Faber, R.M. & de Haas, M.C. & Molin, E.J.E. & Kroesen, M., 2024. "Investigating changes in within-person effects between attitudes and travel behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:185:y:2024:i:c:s0965856424001757
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2024.104127
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