Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Case Studies on Transport Policy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cstp

Using the theory of planned behavior to predict the use of an upcoming

public transportation service in Qatar
⁎
Khaled Shaabana, , Amro Maherb
a
Department of Civil Engineering/Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center, Qatar University, PO Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
b
Lutgert College of Business, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10485 FGCU Blvd S, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Public transportation systems play a major role in accommodating public travel needs. To accommodate the
Mode choice need for public transportation in Qatar, a metro network is currently under construction. However, commuters
Travel behavior have different attitudes and beliefs about whether or not public transportation can fulfill their travel needs. To
Policy investigate the expected use of the future metro service once it becomes available, a self-reported questionnaire
Behavior control
survey was conducted in the city of Doha. The theory of planned behavior was used to predict the intentions of
residents of Qatar to use the forthcoming metro system, based on their held attitudes, perceived norms, and sense
of control. The results showed that the factors predicting the intention to use the metro differ according to the
purpose of the trip; work versus leisure. The perceived behavioral control was found to be important for re-
sidents considering to use the metro for work but not for leisure. These results also indicated that when residents
feel that they will be able to use the metro, then they will more likely use it for work. The subjective norms were
found to be an important factor influencing the use of the metro but only for leisure and not for work. This means
that the use of the metro for leisure is dictated by whether other people close to the participants think it is
appropriate or not for them to use the metro for leisure. The results can offer valuable insights for public agencies
and policymakers in Qatar and other similar countries in the region.

1. Introduction
The main objective of any public transportation system is to provide
travelers (car users and non-users) with a good alternative for travel
(Luk and Olszewski, 2003; Ülengin, 2007). This is always a challenge
since the public transport system may not be able to provide a high
level of service enough to convince many drivers to use public trans-
porting, especially using affordable budgets. This take is usually easier
if there is a clear knowledge of the users’ needs. The selection of a mode
is affected by different factors, including the characteristics of the users,
type of trip, and quality of service for the different transportation
modes. Different studies indicated that many factors including the trip
time, availability of public transportation, comfortable and relaxing
experience in the public transport, reliability of commuting times, cost
of the trip, availability of parking, availability of taxis with reasonable
fares, and proper infrastructure at and around stations can impact the
individual’s decision of selecting public transit (Ali, 2010; Schaller,
1999; Wallin Andreassen, 1995; John et al., 2006).
For car users, it is necessary for the public transportation system to
provide a reasonable level of service to attract high numbers of car
users to switch to public transport (Hensher et al., 2003). Planners and
policymakers struggle to find answers to the imbalance between the
modes, seeking ways of repositioning public transport so that the use of
the car is reduced in urban environments where it is performing least
effectively (Goodwin, 1991; Hensher, 1993). A survey was used to in-
vestigate the decision of the commuters to select between different
modes indicated that the most important factors for the subway service
include reducing time, increasing service availability, and improving
the ease and comfortability of the service. For indirect factors, taxi fares
and the availability of parking were also found to affect the ridership of
public transportation (Schaller, 1999). Another study indicated that the
quality of the public transportation service is affected by the waiting
time, walking distance to stations, and frequency of the service (Ali,
2010). In general, commuters who use crowded public transportation
with limited suffer from higher levels of stress, possibly because of the
uncomfortable situations and the invasion of personal space. In addi-
tion, the stress level increases among commuters who wait longer for a
public transportation service (Cantwell et al., 2009; Buckley and
O'Regan, 2004). Different studies predicted mode choice using different
psychological theories of attitude-behavior. The results of these studies

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: kshaaban@qu.edu.qa (K. Shaaban), amaher@fgcu.edu (A. Maher).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2019.11.001
Received 7 November 2017; Received in revised form 15 September 2019; Accepted 3 November 2019
2213-624X/ © 2019 World Conference on Transport Research Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Khaled Shaaban and Amro Maher, Case Studies on Transport Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2019.11.001
K. Shaaban and A. Maher
indicated that the selection of a specific mode is mainly a reasoned
decision related mainly to attitudes and perceived barriers to behavior
(Bamberg and Schmidt, 1998; Forward, 1998).
The decision to use a public transportation service is a complicated
decision that is affected by many factors. This decision becomes more
complicated in a rich developing country like Qatar, where there is an
increase in the rate of car use. Commuters have feelings of sensation,
power, freedom, status, and superiority when using their private cars
(Steg and Car, 2005). The purpose of this study is to investigate the
potential use of an upcoming public transportation service using a
questionnaire survey that explores how people’s attitudes and opinions
about using a public transportation service are correlated with their
stated intentions to use it. The results of this study provide authorities
and policymakers with important information regarding the demo-
graphics of expected users and their purpose of use for the upcoming
metro service. This information can be used to suggest different inter-
ventions aimed at increasing residents’ intention to use the upcoming
metro.
2. Methods
2.1. Case study – doha metro
Qatar is a rich developing country located in the Arabian Gulf re-
gion. The country is dealing with the dilemma of serving high growth in
traffic demand, limited land, and poor infrastructure. As a result of the
high income in the country, most people living and working in the city
of Doha, the capital, have become car dependents. Some people use
taxis, and a limited number of people use other available public
transportation services (Shaaban and Kim, 2016; Shaaban and Khalil,
2013). To address the fast-growing transportation demands in the city
and reduce the traffic congestion on the roads, the country is building a
new metro system to connect all the major points in the country. The
metro network will have four lines with an overall length of approxi-
mately 340 km and 98 stations (Shaaban and Hassan, 2014). The pro-
posed network is shown in Fig. 1. To benefit from the new metro service
in reducing traffic problems in the city, the metro must attract many
commuters, including car users. The more commuters switch to transit,
the more benefit it will be to the mobility inside the city.
2.2. Theory of planned behavior
To investigate the decision making of using the Doha metro, the
theory of planned behavior (TPB) is used in this study. TPB is one of the
most common theories used to predict and explain the behavior related
to an activity (Fishbein and Ajzen, 2011; Ajzen, 2002; Ajzen, 2001;
Ajzen, 1991). The TPB theory explains that an individual’s intention to
behave in a certain way, in this case, using the Doha metro, can be
affected by three factors. First, the beliefs (attitudes) about the likely
outcomes of the behavior, which includes the person’s overall evalua-
tion of the outcome of the behavior (positive or negative). Second, a
group of beliefs about the normative expectations of significant others
(subjective norms), which refer to an individual’s perception of the
social pressure or support to perform or not perform the behavior
(Bandura, 1997). Third, a set of beliefs about external and internal
factors that can facilitate or impede his/her decision (perceived beha-
vioral control), which describes the person’s perception of the difficulty
or ease related to performing a specific behavior. As described in Fig. 2,
the present study employs the TPB to predict the intentions of residents
of Qatar to use the forthcoming metro system for work/leisure pur-
poses, based on their held attitudes, perceived norms, and sense of
control.
2.3. Data collection
The questionnaire used in the present study was composed of five
2
Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
sections. The first four sections consisted of questions based on the TPB.
These questions were adapted from Bamberg et al. (2003). In the first
section, the intention to use the metro was measured for both leisure
purposes (one question) and work purposes (one question). Re-
spondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they agree (five
points scale: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree,
agree, and strongly agree scale) with the intention to use the metro for
leisure purposes (one question) and work purposes (one question). In
the second section, the respondents were asked to express their attitude
towards using the metro for leisure purposes (three questions), and for
work purposes (three questions). A semantic differential scale was used
using the following anchors: (unpleasant: pleasant, good: bad, and ne-
gative: positive).
In the third section, the subjective norms questions were presented
with regards to using the metro for leisure purposes (two questions) and
work purposes (two questions). The questions followed a five-point
scale (high unlikely; highly likely), and respondents were asked to in-
dicate the likelihood that people who are important to the respondent
would support their decision to take the metro and think that they
should take the metro. In the fourth section, the perceived behavioral
control questions were presented with regards to using the metro for
leisure purposes (two questions) and work purposes (two questions).
The first question assessed how difficult it would be to take the metro
using the following anchors (difficult: easy). The second question as-
sessed the extent of the respondents’ freedom in using the metro using
the following anchors (low: high). Finally, the fifth section contained
demographic questions. The questions asked about (a) ownership of a
driver’s license, (b) gender, (c) age, (d), and (e) nationality (Qatari,
non-Qatari).
Assuming a 90% confidence level, 5% confidence interval, sample
proportion of 0.05, the minimum sample size is 270. The research team
targeted a convenience sample consisting of a database of 500 partici-
pants using an online survey (Israel, 1992). Only 352 forms were in-
cluded in the analysis. The remaining forms had > 30% missing re-
sponses for questions and, therefore, were disregarded.
Since the questions were based on categories with numeric rankings
from one to five, variables were averaged to create the different vari-
ables. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which is a coefficient that
ranges from 0 to 1, was calculated for all the variables. This coefficient
reflects the internal consistency. If the variables are entirely in-
dependent of one another, then the coefficient will be 0. If the variables
have high covariance, then the coefficient will approach 1. Cronbach’s
alpha was high and exceeded 0.7 for all the variables, which exceeds
the recommended value by Nunnally (Nunnally, 1994). The survey
questions, means, standard deviations, Cronbach alpha values for all
variables are shown in Table 1.
3. Results
A summary of the participants is shown in Table 2. The sample
consisted of 159 males (45.2%) and 193 females (54.8%). Additionally,
29.8% of the participants were Qatari nationals, while 70.2% were non-
Qatari nationals. This variation can be justified by the imbalanced po-
pulation in Qatar, with expats making the highest percentage of Qatar's
total population (De Bel-Air, 2014). A high percentage of the partici-
pants (83.2%) reported that they had a driver's license, which is ex-
pected for a car-dependent city like Doha. Finally, young participants
under 30 years of age made up 70.2% of the sample, which is expected
since a high percentage of the nation is younger than 45 years old (De
Bel-Air, 2014)
3.1. Age
Age was measured using a question asking respondents about their
date of birth. The date was used to calculate their age. The age was
subsequently tested for correlation with the other variables. As shown
K. Shaaban and A. Maher Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Fig. 1. Proposed Doha Metro System (Shaaban and Hassan, 2014).

in Table , age had a weak positive correlation with the attitude towards 3.2. Driver license
using the metro for leisure purposes (R = 0.12, P < 0.05) and per-
ceived behavioral control (R = 0.12, P < 0.05), and subjective norms Independent sample t-tests were used to test whether there is a
for leisure purposes (R = 0.11, P < 0.05). difference between those who have and those who do not have a

Fig. 2. Theoretical Model.

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K. Shaaban and A. Maher Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 1
Survey Questions, Means, Standard deviations, Cronbach’s Alpha Values for all Variables.
Variable Scale Mean Std. Deviation Cronbach’s Alpha

Intention (Leisure Purposes)

I intend to use the metro to go out for work purposes Strongly disagree (1)-Strongly agree 3.35 1.19 N/A*
(5)
Intention (Work Purposes)
I intend to use the metro to go out for leisure purposes (i.e., other than work) Strongly disagree (1)-Strongly agree 3.29 1.22 N/A*
(5)
Attitude (Leisure Purposes)
For me to take the metro for leisure purposes would be: Unpleasant (1)-Pleasant (5) 3.67 1.34 0.949
Bad (1)-Good (5) 3.72 1.27
Negative (1)-Positive (5) 3.67 1.28
Attitude (Work Purposes)
For me to take the metro for work purposes would be: Unpleasant (1)-Pleasant (5) 3.58 1.39 0.932
Bad (1)-Good (5) 3.75 1.25
Negative (1)-Positive (5) 3.70 1.30

Subjective Norms (Leisure Purposes)

Most people important to me would support my decision to take the metro for leisure Highly unlikely (1)-Highly likely (5) 3.35 1.32 0.933
purposes
Most people important to me think that I should take the metro for leisure purposes Highly unlikely (1)-Highly likely (5) 3.19 1.34
Subjective Norms (Work Purposes)
Most people important to me would support my decision to take the metro to get to work Highly unlikely (1)-Highly likely (5) 3.46 1.36 0.893
Most people important to me think that I should take the metro to work Highly unlikely (1)-Highly likely (5) 3.27 1.34

Perceived Behavioral Control (Leisure Purposes)

For me to take the metro for leisure purposes would be: Difficult (1)-Easy (5) 3.27 1.37 0.81
My freedom to take the Doha Metro for leisure purposes: Low (1)-High (5) 3.25 1.38
Perceived Behavioral Control (Work Purposes)
For me to take the Doha metro to get to work would be: Difficult (1)-Easy (5) 3.19 1.36 0.733
My freedom to take the Doha Metro to work would be: Low (1)-High (5) 3.27 1.38

* No Cronbach’s Alpha due to single-item measures.

Table 2 participants in terms of their intention, attitude, subjective norms, and

Characteristics of the Participants. perceived behavioral control for both leisure and work, independent
Variables Categories Number of Percentages of
sample t-tests were used. Non-Qatari nationals scored higher than
Respondents Respondents Qataris on all questions related to using the metro for work purposes,
and these differences were all statistically significant. The results are
Gender Male 159 45.2 presented in Table 5. The non-Qatari nationals scored higher on in-
Female 193 54.8
Nationality Qatari 105 29.8
tention (Qatari: 2.75, non-Qatari: 3.51P < 0.05), attitude (Qatari:
Non-Qatari 247 70.2 3.18, non-Qatari: 3.89P < 0.01), subjective norms (Qatari: 2.79, non-
Ownership of a Yes 293 83.2 Qatari: 3.61P < 0.05), and perceived behavioral control (Qatari: 2.87,
driver’s license No 59 16.8 non-Qatari: 3.38P < 0.05). The non-Qatari nationals also scored
Age 16–30 245 70.6
higher than Qataris on all questions related to using the metro for lei-
31–45 84 24.2
46–60 13 3.7 sure purposes, and these differences were all statistically significant.
Over 60 5 1.4 Furthermore, the non-Qatari nationals scored higher on intention
(Qatari: 2.90, non-Qatari: 3.54P < 0.05), attitude (Qatari: 3.20, non-
Qatari: 3.90P < 0.05), subjective norms (Qatari: 2.81, non-Qatari:
driver’s license in terms of their intention, attitude, subjective norms, 3.47P < 0.05), and perceived behavioral control (Qatari: 2.89, non-
and perceived behavioral control for both leisure and work. The Qatari: 3.42P < 0.05).
homogeneity of variance assumption was satisfied based on Levene’s
test, and therefore the t-tests were conducted (Refer to Table 4). As 3.4. Gender
shown in Table 3, the results revealed that there are no significant
differences between those who own and those who do not own a dri- Independent sample t-tests were used to answer whether there is a
ver’s license. difference between males and females in terms of their intention, atti-
tude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control for both lei-
3.3. Nationality sure and work. For gender, there were significant differences between
males (M) and females (F) with regard to all of the work-related
To test whether there is a difference between Qatari and non-Qatari questions. As shown in Table 6, males scored higher than females with

Table 3
Factors Associated with Commuters’ Willingness to Use the Metro Service by Age.
Age Work Leisure

Intention Attitude Subjective Norms Perceived Behavioral Control Intention Attitude Subjective Norms Perceived Behavioral Control

R −0.021 0.035 0.031 0.040 0.074 0.125* 0.11* 0.120*

R Coefficient of Correlation.
* Significant at the 0.05 level.

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K. Shaaban and A. Maher Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 4
Factors Associated with Commuters’ Willingness to Use the Metro Service by Driver License.
Driving license Levene’s Test N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean t

Intention (work) Yes 0.20 293 3.28 1.21 0.071 −0.35

No 58 3.34 1.26 0.166
Attitude (work) Yes 2.37 293 3.71 1.20 0.070 0.87
No 58 3.56 1.38 0.181
Subjective norms(work) Yes 1.22 293 3.39 1.25 0.073 0.79
No 58 3.25 1.39 0.183
Perceived behavioral control (work) Yes 3.26 293 3.23 1.19 0.069 −0.18
No 58 3.26 1.36 0.179
Intention (leisure) Yes 1.29 293 3.38 1.18 0.069 0.83
No 58 3.24 1.23 0.162
Attitude (leisure) Yes 1.80 293 3.74 1.20 0.070 1.41
No 58 3.49 1.33 0.175
Subjective norms (leisure) Yes 0.247 293 3.33 1.27 0.074 1.64
No 58 3.03 1.33 0.174
Perceived behavioral control (leisure) Yes 0.50 293 3.31 1.24 0.073 1.61
No 58 3.02 1.34 0.176

Table 5 Table 6
Factors Associated with Commuters’ Willingness to Use the Metro Service by Factors Associated with Commuters’ Willingness to Use the Metro Service by
Nationality. Gender.
Nationality N Mean Std. Deviation Std. t Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. t
Error Error
Mean Mean

Intention (work) Qatari 105 2.75 1.23 0.120 −5.59* Intention (work) Male 159 3.47 1.25 0.099 2.51*
Non-Qatari 247 3.51 1.14 0.073 Female 193 3.14 1.18 0.085
Attitude (work) Qatari 105 3.18 1.40 0.137 −4.61* Perceived behavioral Male 159 3.62 1.02 0.081 5.80*
Non-Qatari 247 3.89 1.09 0.069 control (work) Female 193 2.91 1.27 0.092
Subjective norms Qatari 105 2.79 1.32 0.129 −5.77* Attitude (work) Male 159 3.88 1.20 0.095 2.79*
(work) Non-Qatari 247 3.61 1.18 0.075 Female 193 3.51 1.24 0.089
Perceived Qatari 105 2.87 1.29 0.126 −3.69* Subjective norms Male 159 3.62 1.22 0.097 3.40*
behavioral Non-Qatari 247 3.38 1.15 0.073 (work) Female 193 3.16 1.29 0.093
control Perceived behavioral Male 159 3.62 1.02 0.081 5.80*
(work) control (work) Female 193 2.91 1.27 0.092
Intention (leisure) Qatari 105 2.90 1.29 0.126 −4.43* Intention (leisure) Male 159 3.40 1.23 0.097 0.629
Non-Qatari 247 3.54 1.09 0.069 Female 193 3.32 1.16 0.083
Attitude (leisure) Qatari 105 3.20 1.42 0.138 −4.53* Attitude (leisure) Male 159 3.74 1.22 0.097 0.70
Non-Qatari 247 3.90 1.08 0.069 Female 193 3.65 1.25 0.090
Subjective norms Qatari 105 2.81 1.36 0.133 −4.28* Subjective norms Male 159 3.46 1.26 0.100 2.49*
(leisure) Non-Qatari 247 3.47 1.20 0.076 (leisure) Female 193 3.12 1.29 0.093
Perceived Qatari 105 2.89 1.29 0.126 −3.65* Perceived behavioral Male 159 3.53 1.18 0.093 3.78*
behavioral Non-Qatari 247 3.42 1.22 0.077 control (leisure) Female 193 3.03 1.28 0.092
control
(leisure) * The difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

* The difference is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

3.5. Ordinary least Square (OLS) regression Models

respect to intention to use the metro (M = 3.47, F = 3.14, P < 0.05),
perceived behavioral control (M = 3.62, F = 2.91, P < 0.05), attitudes
(M = 3.88, F = 3.51, P < 0.05), and subjective norms (M = 3.62,
F = 3.16, P < 0.05) and. With regards to the leisure questions men
were likely to experience higher subjective norms (M = 3.46, F = 3.12,
P < 0.05), and perceived behavioral control (M = 3.53, F = 3.03,
P < 0.05) but not attitudes (M = 3.74, F = 3.65, P > 0.05) or inten-
tion to use the metro (M = 3.4, F = 3.32, P > 0.05).
The gender data were further used to test whether there is a dif-
ference between males and females within the Qatari and non-Qatari
population in terms of their intention, attitude, subjective norms, and
perceived behavioral control for both leisure and work. The results are
shown in Table 7. For Qataris, the only significant differences across
gender were in terms of perceived behavioral control for both work
(M = 3.43, F = 2.63, P < 0.05) and leisure purposes (M = 3.34,
F = 2.68, P < 0.05). For non-Qataris, there were some differences
across gender with regards to using the metro for work but not leisure
purposes. Males were more likely to have a higher intention to use the
metro for work (M = 3.68, F = 3.34, P < 0.05), perceive higher sub-
jective norms (M = 3.82, F = 3.40, P < 0.05), and perceive greater
behavioral control (M = 3.67, F = 3.09, P < 0.05).
To gain further understanding regarding the factors that sig-
nificantly affected the commuters’ willingness to use the new metro
service, Ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression is utilized. OLS is a
generalized linear modeling technique that can be used to model a
single response variable which has been recorded on at least an interval
scale. The technique can be applied to single or multiple explanatory
variables and also categorical explanatory variables that have been
appropriately coded. The functional form of the regression model is
shown below:
intention to use the metro = β0 + β1 X + ε (2)
where β0 is the y-intercept and β1 is the X coefficient of the independent
variable.
Two ordinary least square (OLS) regressions were investigated to
determine what factors predict the intention to use the Doha metro.
One to predict the intention to use the metro to go to work and the
other to predict the intention to use the metro for leisure purposes
(Table 8). As a first step, a regression was conducted in which demo-
graphic variables were regressed onto the intention to use the metro. In
the second step, the attitude, subjective norms, and perceived beha-
vioral control were added to the regression equation.

5
K. Shaaban and A. Maher Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 7 an upcoming metro system in Qatar are correlated with their stated
Factors Associated with Commuters’ Willingness to Use the Metro Service by intentions to use it. To achieve these goals, a questionnaire-based study
Gender and Nationality. was conducted, and responses from 352 participants were obtained.
Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. t According to the descriptive analysis, the non-Qatari nationals had
Error higher scores in all variables related to both leisure and work. These
Mean results may indicate that non-Qataris may have a more positive attitude
towards the metro, which is expected since the incomes of Qataris are
Qatari
Intention (work) Male 34 2.68 1.39 0.238 −0.436 high compared to non-Qataris. The average Qatari household makes
Female 71 2.79 1.16 0.137 nearly three times the average of an expat household income (Statistics,
Attitude (work) Male 34 3.36 1.52 0.261 0.918 2014.). Thus, personal vehicles are more likely to be more affordable to
Female 71 3.09 1.35 0.160
Qataris and likely to serve as a status symbol leading to a negative
Subjective norms Male 34 2.88 1.40 0.240 0.517
(work) Female 71 2.74 1.29 0.153
attitude towards public transportation. Prior studies have shown the
Perceived Male 34 3.43 1.03 0.177 3.170* significance of non-instrumental motives for car use. People evaluate
behavioral Female 71 2.63 1.33 0.158 the symbolic and affective functions of car use such as protection,
control (work) safety, and convenience more favorably than its instrumental functions
Intention (leisure) Male 34 2.59 1.46 0.250 −1.757
(Steg and Car, 2005; Mokhtarian and Salomon, 2001; Hiscock, 2002).
Female 71 3.06 1.18 0.140
Attitude (leisure) Male 34 3.04 1.54 0.265 0.787 Age showed a weak positive correlation with the attitude towards using
Female 71 3.27 1.36 0.161 the metro for leisure purposes and perceived behavioral control and
Subjective norms Male 34 2.88 1.41 0.242 0.378 subjective norms for leisure purposes. This can be an indication that for
(leisure) Female 71 2.78 1.35 0.160
leisure purposes older respondents are more likely to have a positive
Perceived Male 34 3.34 1.24 0.213 2.532*
behavioral Female 71 2.68 1.26 0.149
attitude towards using the metro, perceive that those close to them
control (leisure) expect them to use it, and finally perceive that they can control their
Non-Qatari
behavior of using the metro.
Intention (work) Male 125 3.68 1.13 0.101 2.328* The descriptive analysis for the gender suggested that for work
Female 122 3.34 1.14 0.103 purposes males are more likely to use the metro, have a more positive
Attitude (work) Male 125 4.02 1.06 0.095 1.894 attitude towards it, perceive that there is greater support from others to
Female 122 3.76 1.11 0.101
use the metro and that they have the power to decide whether or not to
Subjective norms Male 125 3.82 1.10 0.098 2.815*
(work) Female 122 3.40 1.24 0.112 use the metro. The gender data were further analyzed based on na-
Perceived Male 125 3.67 1.01 0.090 4.107* tionality. For Qataris, the only significant differences across gender
behavioral Female 122 3.09 1.21 0.110 were in terms of perceived behavioral control for both work and leisure
control (work) purposes. Qatari women showed less perceived behavioral control over
Intention (leisure) Male 125 3.62 1.06 0.095 1.071
whether or not they can choose to use the metro, which can be at-
Female 122 3.47 1.12 0.102
Attitude (leisure) Male 125 3.93 1.05 0.093 0.467 tributed to the females’ protective status within the Qataris society and
Female 122 3.86 1.13 0.102 the availability of chauffeurs in many cases for the Qatari women.
Subjective norms Male 125 3.61 1.17 0.105 1.953 Qatari men perceived greater freedom in whether or not they would
(leisure) Female 122 3.32 1.21 0.110
choose to use the metro. This is expected because of the masculine
Perceived Male 125 3.59 1.16 0.104 2.255
behavioral Female 122 3.24 1.26 0.114 nature of the Qatari culture. In a masculine society, there is a clear
control (leisure) distinction between the roles of men and women. Men are more as-
sertive and focus on achievement and power, while women a modest
* The difference is significant at the 0.05 level. and focus on caring for their family (Hofstede, 2011; Atchley et al.,
2014). With regards to using the metro for work, the non-Qatari men
In the first step of the regression, nationality predicted the intention were more likely than women to have a higher intention, perceive that
to use the Doha metro for both work (β = 0.284, P < 0.05) and leisure others expect them to use it, and perceive higher freedom, which can be
purposes (β = 0.242, P < 0.05). However, nationality only predicted expected in Qatar where men use public transportation more often
the intention to use the metro for work (β = 0.121, P < 0.05) and not (Shaaban and Khalil, 2013; Shaaban and Kim, 2016).
leisure (β = 0.060, P > 0.05) in the second step. Owning a driver’s A TPB analysis, which organizes factors that affect people’s like-
license only predicted the intention to use the metro for work purposes lihood of behaving in certain ways into three types of influence, in-
(β = 0.109, P < 0.05) but not in the second step of the regression cluding their own attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and the in-
(β = 0.069, P > 0.05). More specifically, this can confirm the indica- fluences of others around them, was used to provide in-depth insights
tion that non-Qatari residents are more likely to use the metro for work concerning the commuters that who are willing to use the metro service
purposes. The remaining demographic variables were not significant in once it becomes available. The findings of the TPB analysis showed that
predicting their intention to use the metro. the factors predicting the intention to use the metro differed according
The variables related to the TPB were then examined. The results to the purpose of using the metro; for work versus for leisure. These
indicate that attitudes are a significant predictor of the intention to use results show that changing passengers’ attitudes is the most important
the metro for work (β = 0.475, P < 0.05) and leisure (β = 0.47, factor for influencing passengers’ intention to use the metro, whether
P < 0.05). However, the pattern of results was not the same for sub- for work or leisure. However, it was found that perceived behavioral
jective norms and perceived behavioral control. Subjective norms were control is also important for passengers considering using the metro for
significant in predicting the intention to use the metro for leisure work but not for leisure, which is an indication that when passengers
(β = 0.156, P < 0.05) but not work (β = 0.099, P > 0.05), while feel that they will be able to use the metro, then they are more likely to
perceived behavioral control was significant in predicting the intention use it for work.
to use the metro for work (β = 0.141, P < 0.05) but not leisure Therefore, future research should aim at discovering factors that
(β = 0.070, P > 0.05). consumers perceive as impeding of facilitating their use of the metro for
work. For example. walking in this region is limited due to many fac-
4. Conclusion tors, including weather, culture, and infrastructure (Shaaban et al.,
2017; Shaaban et al., 2017). Therefore., solutions such as providing
This study explores how people’s attitudes and opinions about using parking facilities around metro stations (Shaaban and Pande, 2016),

6
K. Shaaban and A. Maher Case Studies on Transport Policy xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 8
Work/Leisure Regression Models.
Model Variable Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Collinearity Statistics

B Std. Error β Tolerance VIF

Work Regression Model

1 (Constant) 0.285 13.782 0.021 0.983
Gender −0.252 0.129 −0.104 −1.954 0.052 0.926 1.080
Nationality 0.749 0.140 0.284 5.338 < 0.001* 0.937 1.067
Driver’s license 0.353 0.178 0.109 1.980 0.049* 0.877 1.140
2 (Constant) −8.135 10.563 −0.770 0.442
Gender 0.006 0.103 0.002 0.058 0.954 0.848 1.179
Nationality 0.319 0.112 0.121 2.859 0.005 0.867 1.154
Age −0.004 0.005 −0.031 −0.767 0.444 0.946 1.058
Driver’s license 0.224 0.138 0.069 1.622 0.106 0.861 1.162
Attitude (work) 0.468 0.058 0.475 8.042 < 0.001* 0.444 2.252
Subjective norms (work) 0.094 0.054 0.099 1.719 0.087 0.469 2.132
Perceived behavioral control (work) 0.140 0.055 0.141 2.549 0.011* 0.509 1.964

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 0.309 0.095 0.085 1.153

2 0.689 0.474 0.464 0.882

Leisure Regression Model

Model Variable Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Collinearity Statistics

B Std. Error β Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) 23.660 13.679 1.730 0.085

Gender 0.034 0.128 0.014 0.265 0.791 0.926 1.080
Nationality 0.624 0.139 0.242 4.476 < 0.001* 0.937 1.067
Age 0.011 0.007 0.084 1.565 0.118 0.947 1.056
Driver’s license 0.095 0.177 0.030 0.535 0.593 0.877 1.140
2 (Constant) −2.453 9.884 −0.248 0.804
Gender 0.073 0.094 0.031 0.777 0.437 0.883 1.132
Nationality 0.154 0.103 0.060 1.493 0.136 0.877 1.140
Age 0.001 0.005 0.011 0.277 0.782 0.930 1.076
Driver’s license 0.083 0.127 0.026 0.654 0.513 0.877 1.140
Attitude (leisure) 0.521 0.053 0.547 9.834 < 0.001* 0.454 2.205
Subjective norms (leisure) 0.143 0.052 0.156 2.761 0.006* 0.442 2.263
Perceived behavioral control (leisure) 0.066 0.048 0.070 1.352 0.177 0.517 1.933
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 0.248 0.061 0.050 1.145

2 0.724 0.525 0.515 0.818

* Significant at the 0.05 level.

enhancing safety conditions for pedestrians (Shaaban et al., 2018),
improving the sidewalk infrastructure for corridors and around metro
stations (Shaaban, 2019; Shaaban, 2018) are needed in Qatar and can
encourage more people to use the metro service. Moreover, several
construction companies in Qatar currently provide mandatory private
transportation for their workers from their camps, where they live, to
construction sites. This may result in low perceived behavioral control
because their choice of transportation is dictated by a person’s place of
employment.
Subjective norms were also an important factor influencing the use
of the metro but only for leisure and not for work. This means that the
use of the metro for leisure is dictated by whether others close to the
participants think it is appropriate or not to for them to use the metro
for leisure. This finding is consistent with the fact that Qatar is an Arab
country characterized by a high level of collectivism. Collectivism is a
cultural value highlighting the importance of adhering to groups that a
person belongs to, and the use of the metro for leisure purposes might
not be looked upon favorably by groups to which a person belongs. For
example, the issue of gender segregation in public spaces might be a
concern of some of the groups that a passenger belongs to.
A number of limitations with the current study should be noted. The
main limitation is one that most survey-based analyses suffer from,
which is the fact that some respondents might be reluctant to provide
truthful answers due to the pressure of providing a more socially
acceptable answer. This issue does not seem to be a problem in this
study with the statistics showing that many participants are willing, and
others are not willing to use the service. Another limitation was the use
of convenience sampling, which was necessary due to the limited
budget of the study. Therefore, the results may not be representative of
the population.
In summary, the findings of this study suggest that advertising and
any other intervention aimed at increasing residents’ intention to use
the upcoming metro should be different based on the purpose of com-
mute and targeted demographic. This information provides authorities
and decision-makers in Qatar with valuable insights regarding the
commuters’ perspectives/preferences to use the new metro. The results
of this study are likely to be similar and important for other countries in
the Arabian Gulf region, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi
Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, given the similarities in demo-
graphics, income, education, and culture.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2019.11.001.

7
K. Shaaban and A. Maher
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