Allocation of tasks,arrangement of working hours and commuting in different Norwegian households

Weekly working hours and commuting distance can be seen as indicators of equality/inequality between spouses. Traditionally, it is women who adjust their career more readily to meeting family obligations. In an era with a focus on equality between the genders in regard to both education and paid work, it is obvious to think of equality regarding working hours as well, and of distance to and from work. In this study we utilized data from the Norwegian Travel Survey of 2009 to examine the results of adjustments made in weekly working hours and commuting distance in families in which both husband and wife are in paid work. These indicate that the family situation is significant, and that, among other things, children in a family does not lead to any reduction in men’s working hours or commuting distance.Living in the periphery of large cities is disadvantageous for women who want to work full time, while living within a city tends to be to their advantageous in this regard. The results from the analysis of commuting distance show that women do not commute as far as men in comparable groups (working hours, family type, education, place of living, income, access to a car and occupation) and that the policy of regional enlargement is far from gender neutral. So long as it is women who adjust their labour market participation – both temporal and spatial – an enlargement of the regional/geographical labour market resulting potentially in longer commuting distances will primarily favour those who have the possibility to travel irrespectively of family situation, i.e. men, not women.     

How do leisure activities impact leisure domain and life domain satisfaction and subjective well-being?

This study examines the impact of leisure activities on leisure domain and life domain satisfactions and subjective well-being (SWB) and explores the differences between genders in these associations, using data from 316 middle-aged adults. The results suggest that sports and travel & outdoor activities have the greatest impact on physiological, psychological, and relaxing satisfactions. Social activities are key ingredients in social, psychological, and physiological satisfactions as seen by men, whereas cultural activities and hobbies are important in women's psychological satisfaction. While relaxing and social satisfactions are important in men's SWB, psychological satisfaction is the most important factor in women's SWB.     

The Factor Structure of Tourist Satisfaction at Pilgrimage Destinations: the Case of Medjugorje

Although there is an abundance of studies on secular tourist satisfaction and perceived quality of respective tourist destinations, these issues have remained largely neglected when it comes to pilgrimage destinations. The objective of this paper thus is to investigate the key drivers of tourist satisfaction in a pilgrimage destination context by using the case of Medjugorje, one of the most renowned shrines to the Virgin Mary in the world. A recently proposed moderated regression analysis is used to explore whether individual destination attributes can be classified into factors with either a larger or smaller potential to generate satisfaction than dissatisfaction, according to the three‐factor theory of customer satisfaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two-way commuting: Asymmetries from time use surveys

Daily commuting of workers is a complex phenomenon that has long attracted research attention and, despite the significant literature acknowledging differences between morning and evening commuting, commuting trips to and from work are considered symmetric in much of the prior research. We explore the asymmetries in time spent commuting to and from work, in seven countries, using detailed time use records from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS). We focus on the duration, mode of transport, and timing of commuting trips, and we provide evidence of the socio-demographic characteristics related to such asymmetries. We find that commutes to work (usually in the morning) last longer than commutes from work (usually in the afternoon or evening), although there are quantitative differences among countries. The timing of commuting also differs across countries, although commutes to work are more concentrated at certain hours in the morning than commutes from work. Our results may provide a better analysis of public policies, and open questions for future research, tackling the correlation between commuting behaviors and worker well-being, land use and city structure, and extreme commuting, among others.     

Social satisfaction,commuting and neighborhoods

Participation in social activities and the formation of social ties, networks, and capital are crucial in shaping not only the quality of life and health of an individual, but also in creating socially sustainable communities. This paper examines to what extent the urban environment shapes an individual’s level of satisfaction with his or her social contacts. A particular emphasis is placed on isolating the role of commuting times in impeding this outcome. The city of Vienna, Austria, is used as a case study. A statistical model considers elements of an individual’s neighborhood including population density and urban centrality, as well as personal characteristics and transportation-related factors. Results indicate that those with one-way commutes of 30 min or longer result in lower levels of social satisfaction. Residing in a neighborhood with high transit level of service and car ownership positively impact social satisfaction.     

Solo Holiday Travellers: Motivators and Drivers of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

A growing number of people are travelling alone for holidays, yet limited research addresses this topic. This paper explores the main motivators and drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers using a critical incident technique to collect and analyse data. The findings show that drivers of satisfaction for solo holiday travellers are more related to personal feelings of freedom, relaxation and discovery (personal factors) and interaction with other people (human interaction factors) than with holiday destination factors. Safety (a destination factor) and unfriendly service providers (a human interaction factor) are the main sources of dissatisfaction for solo holiday travellers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classification of traditional cultural elements in temple street festivals using the fuzzy Kano model

This study aims to explain consumers’ expectations regarding the culture of temple streets and cultivates an identity system for local culture. The Kano model with fuzzy linguistic concepts was applied to the field observation of temple street festivals and the semi-structured interviews of local cultural directors, scholars of cultural centres, government officials, and cultural industry operators with data on traditional cultural elements. The findings show that “Religious temples”, “Custom activities and events”, “Local cultural industries”, and “Specialty and gourmet food” have a symmetrical impact on both satisfaction and dissatisfaction in proportion to the extent of traditional cultural element fulfilment. “Local stories” do not increase overall satisfaction if traditional cultural elements are exceeded but cause dissatisfaction if they are not fulfilled. Moreover, outer “Tangible”, middle “Behavioural”, and inner “Intangible” factors of attractive, one-dimensional, must-be quality transformed into contemporary image designs are amiably illustrated. These results provide a direction for managing satisfaction and a performance guideline for each activity in the process of creating temple street experiences that can increase satisfaction and reduce dissatisfaction.     

User satisfaction with specialised transport for disabled in Norway

The aim of this article is to examine factors that are most important for the users' overall satisfaction with specialised transport services for the disabled (STS) in Norway. The article focuses especially on gender differences. We find that the three factors most strongly influencing overall satisfaction with the STS for all users are the size of the area in which the service can be used, the comfort experienced during transport, and the number of trips on which STS can be used. Men's satisfaction with the STS is more strongly influenced by the size of the travel area than is the case for women. The degree to which women are satisfied with the STS is more strongly influenced by the comfort and number of trips than is the case for men. The method used in this article to measure users' overall satisfaction can be valuable for other researchers conducting comparable studies, and our findings may be applied by politicians aiming to design an STS which fulfils the needs of the elderly and disabled.     

Built environment,peak hours and route choice efficiency: An investigation of commuting efficiency using GPS data

Commuting efficiency measures the impact of commuting on urban spatial and social environments. Urban policies aim to reduce commuting distances and improve commuting efficiency by supporting mixed land-use and job-housing balance. Many studies have addressed these issues by examining excess commuting at the aggregate level, and most aggregated measurements of excess commuting are based on home-to-work commuting flows between zones. However, residents' travel behaviour does not consist solely of rational attempts at minimizing commuting distances but is instead affected by commuting hours, the complexity of the commuting chain and the built environment. Thus, commuting efficiency must be studied at the individual or disaggregated levels. This paper examined individual commuting efficiency in suburban Beijing using a GPS-facilitated activity-travel survey and investigated the differences in commuting distance and route choice efficiency between morning and evening peaks. Notably, in so doing, we considered non-work stops, and also explored the impact of urban spatial factors – in both residential and working areas – on commuting efficiency using multilevel mixed effects generalized linear models. The findings suggest that there are significant differences in commuting distance and commuting efficiency between morning and evening peaks based on the nature of commutes. Residents working in city centres or with jobs near railway stations, with higher road network densities or with lower facility densities seem to be more adept at selecting optimal routes.     

The structure of customer satisfaction with cruise-line services: an empirical investigation based on online word of mouth

Given the importance of the cruise segment in the tourism industry and the limited number of prior studies in the area, this study empirically explores the structure of customer satisfaction with cruise-line services by evaluating the attributes of cruises that are significant to passengers. Using 44,993 voluntarily provided customer reviews published on a cruise guide website, a stepwise regression analysis is conducted to examine the effects of the attribute performance of cruises on customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The findings empirically confirm the validity of the two-factor theory of customer satisfaction in the cruise tourism context. The asymmetric relationship of some attributes makes it possible to identify dissatisfiers, satisfiers, and hybrid factors for the cruise industry overall and cruises on ships of different tonnage. The results can help managers in the cruise industry understand what aspects of cruises should be given more attention to improve their competitive edge. This study is one of the first to look separately at the determinants of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the emerging cruise industry and proves that the two-factor theory is applicable in a new environment.     

Incorporating needs-satisfaction in a discrete choice model of leisure activities

In this paper we extend the behavioural scope of discrete choice models for leisure activity-travel choices. More specifically, we investigate to what extent choices for leisure activities and related travels are driven by the satisfaction of needs. In addition to conventional attributes (such as activity costs), our regret based discrete choice model incorporates latent variables representing the anticipated level of individual needs-satisfaction by a particular leisure activity. The latent variables are calibrated with the help of subjective indicators of needs-satisfaction associated with the leisure activities. Results show that needs-satisfaction allows us to decompose a substantial share of the unobserved heterogeneity in leisure activity-travel decisions across respondents. Identifying the structural drivers of anticipated needs-satisfaction also enables a better prediction of leisure activity choice.     

Distance-decay functions for daily travel-to-work flows

The non-homogeneity of geographic space brings about the processes that horizontally relate sections of geographic space, in transport geography referred to as spatial interactions. The distance separating different types of locations plays a crucial role in these interactions. Distance is the major factor that influences the values of interaction intensities. The question is how the intensities decrease with distance, since this decrease is usually not linear. This paper pursues the issues of the shape and parameters of the distance-decay functions based on daily travel-to-work transport movements, taking regional centres in the Czech Republic as the example. First the special distance-decay functions for individual regional centres are presented and discussed, followed by the expression of the universal distance-decay function approximating generally to the traits of the Czech settlement system and the nature of the interaction flows, i.e., travel-to-work. The expression of the universal function is based on the application of two easily accessible variables: population and number of jobs.     

An investigation of service quality,customer satisfaction and loyalty in China's airline market

Customer loyalty is a source of competitive advantage and an important intangible asset to any organisations, but empirical evidence from China's airline market regarding the determinants of passenger satisfaction and loyalty is lacking. This paper investigates the service quality of four major airlines in China's domestic market and explores the links between their service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as the conditions under which airlines can retain existing passengers. In line with previous studies, service quality variables are significant factors influencing customer satisfaction levels. However, satisfactory service was not found to result in higher customer loyalty among business travellers. In comparison to Hainan Airlines, passengers who travelled with Air China, China Southern and China Eastern were more likely to switch to an alternate carrier, indicating lower levels of brand loyalty. In addition, the frequent flyer programs (FFPs) have been largely a failure for the four major airlines in terms of increasing customer loyalty, as revealed in this study. It is necessary to draw distinctions between business and leisure travellers when studying the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Ticket pricing had a positive and significant effect on passengers' overall satisfaction and in turn strengthened customer loyalty among leisure travellers, but achieved no impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of business passengers. Some demographic variables such as gender, income and education are statistically significant for one group of passengers but not for another in the probit models estimated. It is suggested that different marketing strategies may be used to target different market segments to improve customer loyalty.     

Mobility in different generations of older persons: The development of daily travel in different cohorts in Denmark,Norway and Sweden

In the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the proportion of older people in the total population is expected to reach about 25% in 2060. The ageing of the population has a variety of social implications. One aspect of population ageing that has relatively little attention in the Scandinavian countries is the question of everyday mobility. The purpose of this paper is to get a better understanding of the activity and travel patterns of different groups of older people, examine how travel- and activity patterns are developing during the life course, study the changes over time and how the “new” generations of older people behave compared to the older ones. The method used is cohort analysis of National Travel Surveys from the three countries in a 20 years perspective. Results show a significant period effect in car ownership and use among older people in Denmark, Norway and Sweden with a clear increase during the past 20 years. This is especially true for women. The increase in the number of driver’s licence-holders and car availability is reflected in travel mode choice among older people: both men and women maintain their car-use habits at old age. Another clear finding is that older people today travel more than the comparable age groups 20–25 years ago: everyday trip rates are higher and activities outside home are more common. While commuting and work-related trips decline after retirement, shopping and leisure trips do not start to decline before high age. From the cohort analysis we see that leisure and shopping trips are maintained in the period after retirement, and the car is important to reach shopping malls, health service, leisure activities, visit relatives and other social company.     

An efficient airline seat reallocation algorithm considering customer dissatisfaction

Nowadays, many airlines tend to provide an advance seat selection service to maximize customer satisfaction to secure market shares in the competitive air transport market. However, the preassigned seat configuration of certain flight legs can be changed often due to aircraft changes for certain reasons, such as maintenance and reservation rates. Then certain customer's seat features, such as row location, position of aisle/window, relative location, and position with the same group member can be different before/after the change, and it can lead to huge customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, an efficient airline seat reallocation algorithm to minimize customer dissatisfaction is introduced in this study, which is based on mathematical model-based optimization with several types of objective functions that reflect customer dissatisfaction levels. A numerical example is performed to validate the developed airline seat reallocation algorithm, and an additional analysis is also executed to derive important insight.     

The structure of joint leisure trips: analyzing two-person leisure trips of Dutch students

This paper investigates the spatial structure of students’ leisure trips and to what extent locational characteristics of social network partners influence decisions about their joint leisure activities and travel. To this end a survey was held among university students asking them about details of their last leisure trip made with a friend. Cluster analysis suggests that four typical leisure trip patterns can be derived. Three clusters seem to be determined by the residential locations of ego and alter. Depending on the residential distance between ego and alter, leisure trip distances are either short for ego and alter (if residential distance is very short), somewhat longer for both (if residential distance is slightly longer) or long for at least one partner (if residential distance is large). A fourth cluster includes cases with long leisure trips for both partners, independent of residential distance, representing cases where specific destinations are visited. A more detailed analysis of travel distance suggests that travel distance depends on size of the residential municipality, residential distance and objective and perceived quality of leisure facilities such as cafés, bars and restaurants. Overall, our study provides support for the idea that leisure trip decisions should be understood on the level of social network ties (i.e. ego and alter) rather than based on individual characteristics only. Also, it provides support for the idea that a focus on single ties, rather than on the structure of social networks as a whole, increases our insight in leisure trip decision making.Keywords: Social network links, Social-recreational travel, Spatial context, Students     

Measuring the potential implications of introducing a cap and share scheme in Ireland to reduce green house gas emissions

This paper examines some of the potential impacts of introducing a cap and share scheme in Ireland. Under such a scheme a cap or limit is placed on national CO₂ emissions and individuals are allocated an annual CO₂ allowance. The research presented in this paper focuses on travel-to-work trips specifically. CO₂ emissions for these annual work trips are calculated and a cap is determined based on these results. Cap levels are set based on average emissions and a 20% reduction in average emissions as per Ireland's reduction targets. A national and Dublin only cap are examined and the results are presented as a means of comparison. Binary logistic models are used to determine the socio-economic characteristics of individuals who fall above and below the cap. The results demonstrate the importance of car ownership, journey distance, mode choice and household composition in determining whether a commuter is above or below the cap. Many commuters who fall above the cap are likely drive to work over long distances, have dependent children in their household and own more than one car.     

Same city—different options: An analysis of the work trips of married couples in the metropolitan area of Oslo

The question raised in this paper is in which ways the urban structure interacts with or creates different conditions for activities made by men and women. To explore this question the paper focuses on the travel to work of married couples in an urban context, how they adapt time use and deal with the spatial choices of work places and the allocation of transport resources. The empirical analyses are based on a personal travel study from the Oslo-region in 1990/91. Women work closer to their homes than the husbands, and have less choice on the geographical labour market. In families with one car, the husband has the first choice. Women have more often tasks on the way to and from work related to household responsibilities.     

Relationships among discretionary activity duration,its travel time spent and activity space indices in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area,Indonesia

This study examines the interdependencies among an individual's time allocation for different activities and the travel time spent on a given day, socio-demographic and built environment variables on these in-home and out-of-home discretionary activities time duration, and how interaction of those variables on discretionary activities time duration influences an individual's activity space indices in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (JMA), Indonesia. The 3SLS model and the 2004 SITRAMP household travel survey were used to achieve this objective. The results show that the time allocation for certain discretionary activities significantly influences the time allocation for other discretionary activities. Workers, students and non-workers have different complex mechanisms pertaining to how they allocate time across different activities and journeys. This unique trade-off mechanism gives an individual a unique distribution of activity locations and spatial movement patterns. This is observed via his/her activity space indices throughout time and space. For example, the estimation result shows that workers' and students' time-use allocation, activities participation and activity space indices are highly influenced by their engagement in mandatory activities. However, this is not the case for non-workers. Furthermore, the mandatory travel time variable has a stronger impact on an individual's discretionary activities time-use pattern than the duration of mandatory activities. This may lead to the argument that, in order to provide more opportunities and flexibilities among the JMA's workers and students for undertaking discretionary activities, travel time reduction policies can play more significant role in shaping the discretionary activity-travel patterns than reduction in working/school hour policies. Additionally, in-line with previous findings in developed countries, locating grocery shops closer to residential areas in the CBD and in suburban areas creates more opportunities for workers and students to spend more time on out-of-home maintenance activities; with a shorter travel time, especially on Fridays.