Exploring the intention of out-of-home activities participation during new normal conditions in Indonesian cities

Abstract The present study will be the first to examine the participation intention of physical activities if new normal conditions are implemented in Indonesia. Socio-economic and household factors, spatial characteristics, perception of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the virtual activities behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic were explored to understand the magnitude of respondents' intention to undertake out-of-home activities during new normal conditions. Based on a questionnaire survey, the study, with 834 respondents, was conducted in the middle to the end of May 2020. By applying the ordered logit model, the model results revealed that younger people tend to participate more in maintenance activities of shopping and outside eating and leisure activities of recreation and social. Meanwhile, the factor of gender, income, and education level had no significant impact on participation intention of mandatory, maintenance, and leisure activities. Excluding non-grocery shopping, there was also no significant difference in activity participation intention between people living in the Greater Jakarta as epicentrum of COVID-19 in Indonesia and people living outside the Greater Jakarta. Furthermore, people living in a household with a high number of motorcycle and car ownership had a greater propensity to pursue outside eating activity. The activity behaviour change from physical to virtual activity participation during new normal conditions could not be replaced by the experience of virtual activities, including e-working, e-learning, non-grocery e-shopping, food delivery, and movie streaming during the pandemic. Finally, some policies are proposed to control activity participation during the new normal period to minimise the virus spread in Indonesia.