Identification of effective personal factors in attracting customers to shopping centers- case of Tehran

In the recent decade, applications of discrete choice models have increased. Destination choice models are coupled with several challenges including large choice sets, complicated alternative specific attributes and the endogeneity problem. Determining the destination of trips with no fixed destinations such as shopping and recreational destinations has been the focus of researches. Nonetheless, the classic destination choice models have paid less attention to psychological and personal attributes of travelers. Several studies on consumer behavior in shopping centers revealed that in addition to observable demographic and socio- economic variables, latent constructs such as psychological variables, lifestyle and the orientation of the center are important indicators to be considered to capture the true behavior of travelers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis on shopping behavior of travelers in major shopping centers in Tehran, Iran. An internet-based survey is conducted to collect the required data for the modelling exercise which included information of 213 individuals. By using factor analysis the weight of components for applying in discrete choice are conducted. Results showed that some latent variables such attitude and lifestyle are affective in shopping center choice and some others like shopping orientation is not effective.