Explaining socially motivated travel with social network analysis: Survey method and results from a study in Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that a crucial factor to understand and explain socially motivated leisure travel is understanding the spatial distribution of individuals’ contacts. Still, only little is known about their actual link. Egocentric social network analysis (SNA) allows one to gather data about where and with whom individuals undertake their social activities. SNA therefore provides a way to study socially motivated leisure travel. This paper presents a data collection effort in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland, which combines a mobility survey with a name generator and interpreter to gather information about individuals’ egocentric social networks. A higher number of contacts leads to a higher response burden, which in turn increases item non-response. Subjects with low income and education generally name fewer contacts. With regards to travel behavior, the frequency of face-to-face meetings decreases sharply with distance to the residential location of contacts and face-to-face meetings are generally not substituted by other modes of communication (although increased usage of video chat is observed at long distances). Distance to social contacts is, therefore, an important factor in social leisure travel.