The Moderating Role of Service Design Attributes in Females’ Fear of Crime in the Underground

Abstract

A great number of female passengers appear to feel fear of crime in underground railways and appear to be affected by the problem in terms of their frequency of use of the underground service, compared to males. However, although it has been dealt with as a problem to be ameliorated in the underground by Transport for London (TFL), how the service is designed to affect their fear and what factors should be taken into account in underground service design to alleviate fear of crime have not been fully answered to date. This research, therefore, aims to identify the influential factors of service design of the underground on female users’ fear of crime by investigating the features and their configurations of the London Underground service, which mediate the user groups’ fear. In order to identify the influential design attributes of the London Underground, which mediate female users’ fear of crime in situations, first, literature on emotion and fear, gender and sex, and service design and the elements of service are reviewed to find the intersection among the research domains. Based on the theoretical foundation, two user studies are designed to identify the role of female users’ gender in the underground and the influential factors of the underground service on the groups’ fear. Thirty one female user interviews are accordingly conducted and analysed in an ‘abductive’ manner. As a result, the mechanisms of female users’ fear of crime in the underground are revealed and the service design attributes in the mechanism are identified. Consequently, a conceptual model of the influential factors of service design on female users’ fear of crime is developed.