A comparison of online and in-person activity engagement: The case of shopping and eating meals

Dias, FF and Lavieri, PS and Sharda, S and Khoeini, S and Bhat, CR and Pendyala, RM and Pinjari, AR and Ramadurai, G and Srinivasan, KK (2020) A comparison of online and in-person activity engagement: The case of shopping and eating meals. In: Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 114 . pp. 643-656.

PDF tra_res_par_c_eme_tec_114_643-656_2020.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (2MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

The virtual (online) and physical (in-person) worlds are increasingly inter-connected. Although there is considerable research into the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on activity-travel choices, there is little understanding of the inter-relationships between online and in-person activity participation and the extent to which the two worlds complement one another or substitute for one another. Shopping is one of the activity realms in which the virtual and physical spaces are increasingly interacting. This paper aims to unravel the relationships between online and in-person activity engagement in the shopping domain, while explicitly distinguishing between shopping for non-grocery goods, grocery products, and ready-to-eat meals. Data from the 2017 Puget Sound household travel survey is used to estimate a multivariate ordered probit model of the number of days in a week that a sample of households engages in in-person activity engagement and online activity engagement for each of these shopping activity types � leading to a model of six endogenous outcomes. Model results show that there are intricate complementary and substitution effects between in-person and online shopping activities, that these activities are considered as a single packaged bundle, and that the frequencies of these activities are significantly affected by income, built environment attributes, and household structure. The findings suggest that travel forecasting models should incorporate model components that capture the interplay between in-person and online shopping engagement and explicitly distinguish between non-grocery and grocery shopping activities. Policies that help bridge the digital divide so that households of all socio-economic strata can access goods and services in the virtual world would help improve quality of life for all. Finally, the paper highlights the need to bring passenger and freight demand modeling, at least within urban contexts, into a single integrated structure. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Publisher:	Elsevier Ltd
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Elsevier Ltd
Keywords:	Electronic commerce; Virtual reality, Eat-meal activities; Multivariate ordered probit; Physical and virtual activity engagement; Shopping activity; Travel behaviors, Economic and social effects, comparative study; information and communication technology; multivariate analysis; physical activity; quality of life; shopping activity; travel behavior
Department/Centre:	Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Center for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP)
Date Deposited:	02 Nov 2021 11:12
Last Modified:	02 Nov 2021 11:12
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/64947

Actions (login required)

View Item