Exploring motivations for multimodal commuting: A hierarchical means-end chain analysis

Despite municipal investments in multimodal mobility infrastructure, monomodal automotive travel patterns still dominate work-related mobility. As policymakers aim to reduce associated externalities like traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution, encouraging multimodality can be a promising route toward diversified, more sustainable mobility. However, studies on modal choice and modal shift have mainly focused on investigating the consumer decision-making process concerning specific monomodal travel modes and external factors but are characterized by a lack of dedicated applications in the commuting context. Therefore, insights into consumers’ motivational patterns determining intentions to engage in multimodal commuting and factors influencing their willingness to alter the modal mix remain scarce. With a qualitative means-end chain (MEC) analysis, we explore consumers’ overarching motivational structures to choose multimodal commuting behavior through laddering interviews with forty employees from two large German employers. We contribute to existing research by revealing five motivational patterns that promote consumers' decision to become multimodal commuters: autonomy, physical health, sustainability, quality of life, and interpersonal connections, which we juxtapose with previous findings. Interestingly, we find that economic interest, security, and fun are only motives of secondary importance. Consequently, we propose implications for academics, policymakers, and practitioners to foster commuters choosing more sustainable, multimodal mobility.