The Influence of Demographic Matters and Interest on Passenger’s Switching Intention: Evidence of Travelers in the Developing Country Indonesia

2.1. Passenger Socio-Demographics Characteristic

Although land transportation in Indonesia, especially the Jakarta-Bandung route, consists of roads, and rail, this research is focused on examining the use of highways to travel to other destinations. Subsequently, the passenger characteristics in this study describe the socio-demographic factors that consist of gender, age, occupation, and level of education. These factors, along with household sizes were reconfirmed with a survey to seek people's preferences in respect to using their vehicles across 5 countries in the Nordic area [17]. The social aspect becomes extremely important immediately, thereby, linking each competitive entity. Meanwhile, obtaining information concerning the socio-demographics element gives a better analysis of historical and future trend transition pathways. First, gender is one of the determinants that affect passengers’ preferences. According to the preliminary studies, women and men have different mobility dimensions [18]. Men are considered to possess more physical energy than women; therefore, they tend to travel frequently. Conversely, women are less likely to change decisions than men because they are more anxious regarding comfort [15]. However, women are usually loyal to a comfortable means of transportation once it is found. Meanwhile, men are more likely to try new things to make a better choice. Subsequently, education is also another demographic characteristic that influences people's choice as reported in several studies [17-19]. Irrespective of the fact that it was set on a control variable by Hazen, the result stated that men with high educational qualifications are prone to traveling [13]. Besides, highly educated people possess more complex thoughts. The consideration in respect to the selection of transportation modes is integrated with other aspects. Apart from gender, certain body conditions caused by age tend to make the preference of a passenger different from another. An online survey carried out in Nordic Countries, discovered that both young and older people rarely travel, specifically households with children [17]. Moreover, the elderly prefer the most convenient transportation that does not cause them to exhaust their energy while traveling. They have a higher possibility or tendency to become picky with transportation modes [20]. Besides, older people > 65 years are less likely to change their decisions, unlike the middle-aged, those between 35 to 65 years [21]. Occupation is likely one of the passenger’s preference considerations. Unemployment does not collaborate with carbon emissions regardless of location [22]. This is because unemployed people prefer to use public transportation rather than private vehicles to travel from one place to another [23]. Furthermore, people that are gainfully employed or in highly placed positions tend to switch transportation mode preferences unlike those that engage in menial jobs, such as laborers and common employees [20]. The income generated from these jobs is not necessarily the same. Moreover, a large income provides a greater opportunity for one to select the desired vehicle according to personal preference. Therefore, age, gender, and education have significant effects on the intention of individuals to switch preferences [13]. In this study, it was argued that socioeconomic factors such as gender, age, occupation, and level of education have a significant effect on passengers’ interest in particular land transportation.

2.2. Passenger Interests and Preferences

Interest is described as the tendency or desires of a respondent additionally, it is one of the psychological aspects that has a significant influence on behavior, as well as a source of motivation [24]. Customer’s interest is the tendency to continuously use a particular brand, such that it becomes irrelevant switching to another [16]. Therefore, interests have certain characteristics including a personalized or individualistic nature as it varies from one entity to another. It also has a discriminatory effect and is closely related to motivation. Subsequently, it is not innate and tends to change depending on one’s needs, experiences, and modes. Interest is described as a person’s condition before taking certain actions and this serves as a basis for predicting behavior. Interest does not automatically or abruptly emerge in someone [25]. It best to study peoples’ minds to acquire adequate information and ensure they understand the five stages of purchase namely need, recognition, search, evaluation, and decision [26]. Interest is related to a passenger’s plan to use a particular travel mode within a certain period. Also, an individual’s interest in utilizing particular transportation is a mental statement that reflects the consumer's plan.

2.3. Passenger Intention to Change Mode of Transportation Preferences

The changes in consumer preferences are expected in the business world and are psychological processes to recognize and identify the necessary measures to solve these issues through purchasing decisions [27]. These changes concerning the use of transportation modes are extremely important to realize the trends in people’s travel behavior, as well as the focus of passenger segmentation. The concept of business marketing is inseparable from the analysis of changes that trigger switching behaviors because companies tend to evaluate their advantages and disadvantages to attract new consumers [28, 29]. The existence of the Jakarta-Cikampek elevated highway road has significantly reduced the travel time from Jakarta to Bandung and is also faster than the train transportation mode. Some critical aspects regarding the choice of transportation mode include the demographic factors and the interest of passengers. Previous studies have attempted to understand the switching behaviors of consumers regarding a particular product or service. In addition, some even tried to comprehend the relationship among the factors that influence this behavior [28, 30, 31]. Customers tend to be attracted to other transportation services because personal characteristics are not caused by emotional responses to the current circumstance [28]. However, positive emotions need to be triggered by the manager to reduce rivalry [31]. Furthermore, maintenance needs to be carried out regularly in accordance with customer surveys. This form of marketing effort helps a firm strengthen long-term relationships as well as avoid switching preference [30]. One of the internal factors that encourage consumers to switch preferences is the change in product or service [32]. Based on different perspectives, some studies focus on the process of changing behavior during decision-making and outlined the reasons for switching to other products or services [29, 33]. It was discovered that those customers that switch to other firms have different cultures and expectations [29].

2.4. Data Sampling and Procedures

The main data were obtained by carrying out a survey on the respondents using a structured questionnaire. One reason, this method is the best match for a market research design like this study is to obtain a better understanding of consumer interest [34]. To identify the factors that trigger switching intention, socio-demographic characteristics, often used by previous studies, were adopted [7, 14, 17-22]. These include gender, age, occupation, and level of education. The questionnaire consists of several sections for acquiring specific respondent demographic information, Likert scale from strongly, uninterested to strong interest choice, was utilized. Furthermore, another Likert scale from a strong desire not to switch to a strong desire to switch modes of transportation was also adopted. The questionnaire was pre-tested by industry and supply chain experts that examined the validity of the measures adopted. Subsequently, a survey method was used to collect data directly obtained from the respondents. This was realized by simultaneously distributing questionnaires at the targeted site, and then collecting the results of the studied objects after 20 minutes. Meanwhile, purposive sampling was used to determine the research sample.

This survey was carried out in 2019. In addition, it was conducted at every station on the Jakarta-Bandung route that had concentrated passengers. The target population was land transportation passengers as the Central Statistics Agency data in 2019 stated that over 80% of the travelers in Indonesia preferred to use this mode. This includes railway, road, or highway. The vehicles that ply the highway were analyzed as well as 120 respondents were selected randomly at a total of 6-point stops. Therefore, the total sample used was 120 X 6 = 720 respondents (Table 1).

2.5. Data Analysis Technique

This descriptive quantitative research uses primary data as the main source. It is a collection of information relating to the socio-demographic characteristics, interests, and intentions of passengers to change their preferences to land transportation using the Jakarta-Cikampek elevated highway. The information obtained is further inputted into the coding stage before being examined by employing a crosstab with help frequency analyses to assess the relationship between demographic variables and passenger interests in switching preferences. It is a known fact, that some previous studies adopted a more robust statistical approach, such as multivariate analysis, multinomial and mixed logit, as well as partial least square to identify the underlying constructs that explain an aspect of the demographic associations and passengers interest [19, 28], [35]. However, this study uses the cross-tabulation test to discover evident influences between the demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, occupation, education) and passengers' interest in switching preference. However, rather than only “back fit” these results, this study stated its data both in quantitative and qualitative (narrative) form. This research use chi-square analysis to detect the significant relations between the 2 variables. This method was adopted from a previous study that analyses the effect of demographics characteristics on passengers' preference [17]. The criteria for the accepted hypothesis were chi count>chi table and significance <.05.

3.1. The Influence of Gender on Changes in Passenger Transportation Mode Preferences

Table 2 shows the crosstab results of the influence of age and intention variables on changes in transportation mode preferences. Generally, the male and female passengers are 371 and 271 respectively. Besides, 245 passengers were hesitant to switch to the rail transportation modes although, the majority of the men were doubtful. However, relatively 209 respondents wished to change modes of transportation, while 169 had no intention to switch. Furthermore, 16 passengers dominated by women certainly did not want to alter their modes of transportation. On the contrary, 3 passengers, mostly men, really wished to change. Subsequently, passengers tend to select one of the transportation modes based on 3 main priorities namely cost, convenience, and destination suitability. In accordance with the majority of the passengers' perspective, vehicles are the ideal solution to this issue. This implies that most of them travel in vehicles to other destinations.

Meanwhile, the chi table results show an insignificant relationship between gender and changes in passengers’ preferences on land transportation mode using vehicles, and its effect (Table 3). Although this is in accordance with a relationship of .201 which is greater than the .050 significance level, and 5,979 <9,488 (chi table DF: 4 and sig .05), the results proved that gender is not the basis for justifying changes in passengers’ transportation mode preferences.

3.2. The Influence of Age on Passenger Desire to Change Mode of Transportation

The crosstab results of age and intention variables in changing transportation mode preferences are shown in Table 4. The doubts experienced were mostly dominated by those within the ages of 26 to 35 years and this amounted to a total of 113 passengers, besides, majority of them travelled in private vehicles. Subsequently, based on the summary of the data on the APPENDIX, the priorities that affect the selection of these modes include travel time, comfort, and driving convenience. This was followed by the desire to remain unchanged, however, as many as 82 passengers, dominated by those within the ages of 26 to 35 years, preferred to travel in private vehicles. Furthermore, passengers between the ages of 15 to 26 years had the desire to change. Meanwhile, the elderly, mostly those that are 66 and above, desperately wanted to change from their current means of transportation to another.

Moreover, a significant relationship was discovered between age demographic factors and changes in passengers’ preference of vehicles as shown in Table 5. Furthermore, the relationship was .000 less than the .050 level of significance, and 81.992> 31.410 (chi table DF: 20 and sig .05). This shows that age is one of the characteristics that made passengers change their preferred mode of transportation.

3.3. The Influence of Educational Level on Passenger Desire to Switch Mode of Transportation

Table 6 showed the crosstab results of the educational level variable and the intention to change the transportation mode preference. The desire to switch preferences was mostly dominated by those with lesser educational qualifications or equivalent to senior high school. Likewise, the majority of the passengers in this group experienced doubts and had no intention to switch from the current mode of transportation. This was reasonable considering that the proportion of passengers with educational qualifications lower than or similar to senior high school accounted for relatively half of the respondents that preferred land transportation. Similarly, groups that had no intention to switch modes of transportation were dominated by high school graduates. On the contrary, none of those in the group that was eager to switch to another mode of transportation had attained high school education. The majority of those with not more than high school educations chose to use the intercity between provinces bus. This type of vehicle was preferred due to cost, comfort, and practicality considerations. Meanwhile, diploma holders preferred to use private vehicles, while undergraduates and postgraduates used the travel modes.

However, a significant relationship was discovered between the educational level and changes in passengers’ preferences of land transportation mode. Table 7 showed the relationship .023 to be less than .050 with a significance level, of 23.666> 21.206 (chi table DF: 12 and sig .05). Therefore, the level of education was proven to be one of the demographic characteristics that made passengers change their transportation mode preferences.

3.4. The Influence of Passenger Job Type on Desires to Change Mode of Transportation

Table 8 showed the crosstab results of the work type variable and the intention to change the preferred mode of transportation. A total of 92 respondents were doubtful about switching modes of transportation, while 63 people were interested in switching, in addition, both groups were dominated by private employees. On the contrary, most entrepreneurs approximately 61 respondents had no intention to switch from the current transportation. Meanwhile, it was natural for private employees to dominate some of the answer choices because they constituted the highest number of respondents compared to the others. The passengers were mostly those that worked with private firms and the choice was motivated by considerations of cost, comfort, and suitability of their destinations.

There was a significant relationship between occupational demographic factors and changes in passengers’ preference of land transportation mode. As shown in Table 9, the relationship .000 was less than .050 significance level, and 62.847> 31.410 (chi table DF: 20 and sig .05). This result shows that the passengers’ occupation was one of the demographic characteristics that made them change their preferred modes of transportation.

3.5. The Influence of Current Interest in the Mode of Transportation on Passenger Desires to Change

Table 10 showed the crosstab results of the variables of work and the intention to change the transportation mode preferences. Most of the passengers, particularly 501 respondents, expressed their interest in using land transportation modes that ply on the highways such as intercity and between cities buses, private cars, rentals, etc. Despite the high interest of passengers in the recent modes of transportation, many expressed doubts and wanted to switch to other means such as railways. However, approximately 141 interested passengers did not want to switch and 11 of them were uncertain about changing to other modes of transportation. Nevertheless, the interested and unwilling ones or those that had no intention to switch were dominated by intercity and between cities travel and bus passengers, while the private vehicle users were dominated by those interested although hesitant to change. Meanwhile, those interested and willing to switch to other modes of transportation were dominated by rental car passengers. This was understandable since they are hesitant to switch considering the rental, fuel, and other costs such as highway fees.

Meanwhile, a significant relationship exists between occupational demographic factors and changes in passengers’ preferences of land transportation mode. According to Table 11, the relationship .000 tends to be less than the .050 significance level, and 27,550> 26,296 (chi table DF: 16 and sig .050). This proves that passengers’ interest influences the desire to switch to other transportation modes.