The Determinants of Passengers’ Consumption Motivation at High-Speed Rail Stations

Abstract

Exploring passengers’ consumption motivation can provide the basis for arranging commercial activities in high-speed rail (HSR) stations to generate more revenue for operations. This study uses a mixed multiple-attribute decision-making model for exploring the consumption motivation at HSR stations and complex influential relationships from the passengers’ perspective. The passenger traffic at five major HSR stations in Taiwan were evaluated. Based on the results of decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and DEMATEL-based on the analytical network process methods, it is shown that station attributes and consumption environment attributes are key factors that impact product attributes. Moreover, store location, commercial activities offered, product diversity, time pressure, and service convenience have a “cause” characteristic and, therefore, should be focused on when deploying commercial services at HSR stations. The findings from the modified VlseKriterjumska Optimizacija I Kom-promisno Resenje method reveal that time pressure has the largest gap to aspiration level at almost all the stations. Finally, corresponding management implications to HSR stations are proposed.