2013 Session: 689

• Incorporating Mechanisms of Social Adoption in the Design and Analysis of Stated Choice Experiments: Illustration and Application to the Choice of Electric Cars
  Abstract: The use of stated choice experiments in travel behaviour research has increased dramatically over the last decade. Although considerable progress has been made, over-prediction of market shares of new choice alternatives is often reported. This study is based on the contention that such over-prediction is partly due to the fact that experimental designs do not incorporate conditions that reflect how new alternatives are received in the market: social adoption is not experimentally varied. The aim of this paper is to show how social adoption can be incorporated in the design and analysis of stated choice experiments. The intention to buy an electric car is used for illustration. This paper discusses the design of the choice experiment and summarizes the main findings of the analyses. Results indicate that although social influence plays a less significant role than attributes of electric cars in the buying process, different elements of social networks do exert an influence on people’s buying decisions. These effects vary between friends, relatives, colleagues and the larger peer group. Moreover, the effects are non-linear, the particular form of the part-worth utility function depending on the element of the social network. The latent decision to buy a car also depends on socio-demographic variables. The results of this novel approach have implications for the design of stated choice experiments, which are discussed in the last section of the paper.
  Authors: Rasouli, Soora; Timmermans, Harry J.P.
  Authors: Rasouli, Soora; Timmermans, Harry J.P.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-2506
• Decision Makers and Socializers, Social Networks, and the Role of Individuals as Participants
  Abstract: The inclusion of social interactions into models explaining facets of behavior is becoming recognized as a necessity in the pursuit of higher accuracy in explaining and predicting behavior. Among these efforts, researchers have focused on issues such as the composition of social networks, and the constraints and influences that others have on spatial decisions. An important aspect that has been understudied however is the variability or heterogeneity of individuals both as social network members and as participants in these social networks. Understanding the role individuals play in decision-making in different social networks can further define our models to include more accurate representations of human behavior. This research explores the differences between social network composition, and the decision roles members play within different social networks specifically when deciding where to participate in activities. A survey was conducted in Santa Barbara, California on social network involvement, network attributes and decision-making roles within each network. Two separate latent class cluster analysis (LCCA) models were developed to classify social network involvement and roles. Results show that there are clearly different types of social involvement and roles within networks. Further data collection and analysis will be used to better understand how these decision-making roles manifest themselves in activity decision-making.
  Authors: Deutsch, Kathleen Elizabeth; Goulias, Konstadinos G.
  Authors: Deutsch, Kathleen Elizabeth; Goulias, Konstadinos G.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-4387
• Social Interaction Potential and Spatial Distribution of Face-to-Face Social Interactions
  Abstract: This paper investigates the spatial distribution of social activity locations. The research makes use of a Social Interaction Potential metric to estimate the potential for an individual to participate in a face-to-face social activity at any particular location in the city. The metric is shown to constitute a contact probability field that is sensitive to time-geographic constraints such as home locations, workplaces and travel times. Empirical case studies drawn from samples in Ghent, Belgium and Concepción, Chile are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the social interaction potential metric in assigning high potential scores to observed social activity episodes. Moreover, a regression model is used to estimate the marginal benefit of using successive levels of constraint detail. The results illustrate both positive and negative aspects of the Social Interaction Potential metric. The metric behaves very well in general; 75% of the time an observed activity location received a score in the 25th percentile. However, lower valued scores were more common in cases when the time-geographic constraints were not very strong (i.e. when the commute duration was short), or when activities took place in the homes of the respondents. In the end, the results step toward validating the regional scale Social Interaction Potential metric and indicate that it may be useful in microsimulation models of daily travel and activity participation.
  Authors: Farber, Steven; Neutens, Tijs; Carrasco, Juan Antonio; Rojas, Carolina
  Authors: Farber, Steven; Neutens, Tijs; Carrasco, Juan Antonio; Rojas, Carolina
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-4498
• Incorporating Mechanisms of Social Adoption in the Design and Analysis of Stated Choice Experiments: Illustration and Application to the Choice of Electric Cars
  Authors: Rasouli, Soora
  Authors: Rasouli, Soora
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-2506
• Decision Makers and Socializers, Social Networks, and the Role of Individuals as Participants
  Authors: Deutsch, Kathleen
  Authors: Deutsch, Kathleen
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-4387
• Social Interaction Potential and Spatial Distribution of Face-to-Face Social Interactions
  Authors: Farber, Steven
  Authors: Farber, Steven
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Planning and Forecasting; Society
  Session: 689
  Paper Number: 13-4498