Public transportation and marketing: Experimental studies on the influence of multiple motives

Public transport is an important part of the transition to a more sustainable future. The increasingly market- and customer-oriented public transport companies today market themselves with a wealth of messages in a growing flora of channels such as direct mail, websites and apps. This communication is part of the influence that the traveler is exposed to. In addition, the goals the traveler has, for example in terms of time, cost and convenience, influences the traveler when he/she makes a decision about travelling. Based on a goal framing theory on how different goals, multiple motives, interact and counteract each other, this project investigates how public transport companies market themselves, and how different types of messages about which goals are important regarding every day and holiday travelling affect travelers' choice of modes of transport. Essentially, a number of experiments will be conducted where messages from public transport concerning different travel motives are varied to see how different messages affect different types of travelers’ inclination to travel collectively. In connection with the experiments, survey data is also collected to get a general picture of similarities and differences in attitudes, personality types and behavior between travelers and how they are influenced by different messages. The main objective of the project is to support public transport companies’ efforts to improve their communication concerning more environmentally friendly travel modes. The project also aims at contributing to the further development of the goal framing theory.