Recursive Structural Equation Modeling of Determinants of Motorist Parking Challenges in Ghana: A Greater Kumasi Perspective

Abstract

Globally, the rise in car ownership and usage has intensified parking challenges, particularly within central business districts (CBDs) of many developed cities. Scarce parking infrastructure and escalating land values have further exacerbated these issues, leading to heightened competition among business owners, residents, shoppers, and clients for the limited available paid and free on-street parking spaces. Against this backdrop, the present study sought to model the determinants of motorists’ parking challenges using a recursive structural equation model (RSEM), drawing on empirical evidence from Greater Kumasi, Ghana. Primary data were collected through a structured survey involving 1000 drivers within the designated catchment area, employing cluster and systematic sampling techniques to ensure representativeness. The findings reveal that four out of five structural paths of the constructs exerted significant influences on the structural model components. Both time-related indices and parking costs demonstrated direct and indirect effects on parking challenges, with vehicle type serving as a mediating variable. Furthermore, most of the measurement models significantly impacted the latent factors, either positively or negatively, highlighting the complex interrelationships between parking behavior and underlying determinants. Overall, this study makes several contributions: it provides localized empirical evidence from a developing-country context, offers theoretical refinements to existing models, demonstrates methodological rigor through the application of RSEM, and proposes practical policy insights to address urban parking challenges in rapidly growing African cities such as Kumasi.