Transport buyers choice of transport service - A literature review of empirical results

• Understanding the reasons behind the choice of transport service is a key issue in understanding the transport market, designing a competitive transport system and, in particular, achieving a shift towards intermodal transport. This paper is a literature review of studies on factors influencing the choice of transport. It focuses on studies concerning European conditions with primary data on decision makers’ selections obtained through interviews and surveys, published in English and Swedish after the year 1990. The review includes the leading academic publications complemented by non-peer reviewed reports. Non-peer reviewed publications are included as a large share of the studies are only published in the grey literature. This paper separates from previous reviews through its focus on studies with primary data and a widened scope to include non-peer reviewed sources. The review finds that the factors behind the choice of transport service can be divided into three levels: 1. Benchmark (Cost), 2. Qualifiers (Quality, Reliability, and Transport Time), and 3. Particularities (Others). Most of the decisions are made based on price (Benchmark) after ensuring that the basic transport quality requirements are met (Qualifiers). Other factors (Particularities) have low importance. Particularly noteworthy is the low importance of the environmental impact. Results from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed publications show the same important factors. The research methods used in the studies are also included in the analysis, and it is found that the different methods have similar results.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Transport service choice

modal choice

Europe

Sweden

literature review

mode selection

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)