Investigating Behavioral Differences in Heterogeneous Decision Rule Segments: An Empirical Analysis

Conventional and contemporary models of travel choice make the restrictive assumption of homogeneity in decision rules. Recent literature has shown empirical evidence for potential heterogeneity in decision rules with regard to utility maximization and regret minimization. Notwithstanding these advances in modeling decision rules, behavioral understanding in the differences in these alternative decision rule segments has not been sufficiently understood. Moreover, the factors which influence the choice of these decision rules have not received significant attention. This study proposes a framework which considers decision makers to have both utility maximizing and regret minimizing tendencies. The variation in these tendencies across decision makers renders the framework heterogeneous. A heterogeneous decision rule model is developed assuming the decision rule adopted to be a latent construct. The study characterizes the regret minimizing and utility maximizing segments based on average values of the segmental attributes. The empirical findings show evidence to confirm that utility maximizers tend to be predominantly captive to personal vehicle usage while regret minimizers might be non-captive to any particular mode. The nature and extent of influence of factors affecting the choice of decision rule is also examined.