Transformation from intentions to habits in travel behavior: An awareness of a mediated form of intention

- This study focuses on the transform process from intentions to habits.
- Automatic intention is seen as a mediated form of intention during the transformation.
- The concept and a preliminary measurement of automatic intention were developed.
- Characteristics of automatic intention were found similar to those of habits.
- There is a possibility that researchers tap automatic intention instead of habits.

Travelers' behavioral intention and habits are well-known constructs in the literature of travel behavior. In general, behavioral intention and habits explain the deliberate process and the habitual process of travelers' behavior, respectively. While behavioral intention is considered as a goal-dependent deliberation, habits are not fully defined due to different views of researchers. The stimulus-response approach describes habits as a goal-independent automaticity, whereas the script-based approach views habits as a goal-dependent automaticity. The controversy in understanding the association between goals and habits necessitates a focus on the establishment of habits in which habits are assumed to appear due to a repetition of behavioral intention. With an aim to understand the process of transformation from intentions to habits, this study focuses on a mediated form of intention that is close to habits. It is hypothesized that the mediated form has characteristics similar to those of habits. Empirical support for the hypothesis was obtained in public transportation domain. The findings of this study are important for the field because they present a possibility that past research has investigated the mediated form of intention instead of habits.