http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/14145/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20621/ 2010-11-01T00:00:00Z Variation in the demand for scarce recreational resources can easily lead to crowding with unpleasant consequences for visitors and poses significant challenges to recreational resource managers. Previous research on individuals' response to crowding has mainly focused on how individuals cope with crowding at the moment that they experience it. The current paper adds to this literature by investigating in a formal modeling framework if and how visitors anticipate to crowding by taking into account other individuals' expected timing choices. We study individuals' anticipation of crowding and their resulting visit timing choices by using a game theoretical structure and response equilibrium. Results from two experiments in different contexts provide insight into how individuals incorporate strategic considerations regarding crowding in their visit timing decisions. They indicate that individuals anticipate strategically on other visitors' timing decisions, but also that they may take into account their own crowding anticipations only to a limited extent when making their timing choices. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/15393/ 2008-12-01T00:00:00Z The provision of travel information may serve as a means of changing the behavior of individual travelers in ways that are beneficial to the transportation system at large. On the basis of the argument that a better understanding of travel behavior in the presence of traffic information is required, this paper reports on the analysis of a computer experiment investigating the effects of recommendations with different underlying control objectives on route choice under uncertainty. The results indicate that when potential congestion is anticipated, travelers use the recommendations provided as an indicator of the choices of other travelers as they conjecture the rate of compliance to reduce the uncertainty when they make decisions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/14599/ 2008-10-15T00:00:00Z Based on mental model theory, we expect individuals to construct a mental representation of the system they interact with which tends to be a strong reduction of reality and is tailored to the specific situation and task at hand. Such reductions may be particularly significant in complex decision situations involved in local spatial choice behavior. In this article, we develop a method to model and measure mental representations of decision problems involving individual spatio-temporal choice behavior in different situations. The so-called CNET method consists of an interview protocol to elicit the structures at the individual level as a causal network. We test the proposed method in a case study involving 180 respondents and an experimental shopping-trip planning task. The results indicate that the method is an adequate way of eliciting mental representations. We show how the networks revealed can be used to model and simulate reasoning and decision-making processes. © 2008 Sage Publications. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13922/ 2008-06-01T00:00:00Z Depending on the shopping context, consumers may develop different mental representations of complex shopping trip decision problems to help them interpret the decision situation that they face and evaluate alternative courses of action. To investigate these mental representations and how they vary across contexts, the authors propose a causal network structure that allows for a formal representation of how context-specific benefits requirements affect consumers’ evaluation of decision alternative attributes. They empirically test hypotheses derived from the framework, using data on consumers’ mental representations of a complex shopping trip decision problem across four shopping contexts that differ in terms of opening hour restrictions and shopping purpose, and find support for the proposed structure and hypotheses. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11812/ 2008-03-25T00:00:00Z Depending on the shopping context, consumers may develop different mental representations of complex shopping trip decision problems to help them interpret the decision situation that they face and evaluate alternative courses of action. To investigate these mental representations and how they vary across contexts, the authors propose a causal network structure that allows for a formal representation of how context-specific benefits requirements affect consumers’ evaluation of decision alternative attributes. They empirically test hypotheses derived from the framework, using data on consumers’ mental representations of a complex shopping trip decision problem across four shopping contexts that differ in terms of opening hour restrictions and shopping purpose, and find support for the proposed structure and hypotheses. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11116/ 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z Recent increases in flexibility and automation in the production of goods and services allow a growing number of suppliers to offer their products in flexible sets of modules from which consumers can create their own individualized packages. This paper addresses the question how consumer choices of such modularized products can be modeled and measured by applying conjoint choice experiments. We analyze conceptually the structure of individual consumers choices of modularized products and the role of the error component in random utility models of these choices. We propose a simple experimental conjoint choice design strategy that can support estimation of this type of models. An empirical illustration in the area of travel package choice is discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11117/ 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z Because of the increasing time pressure they face, many consumers are becoming more concerned about the efficiency of their shopping patterns. Retailers have recognized this trend and have improved shopping convenience by offering greater variety in product categories and making it easier for consumers to combine visits to multiple stores. However, little is known about how consumers improve the efficiency of their shopping trips or how changes in retail supply affect the way in which consumers combine multiple purposes and destinations. Building on previous work in consumer shopping trip modeling and conjoint design theory, the authors introduce a choice-based conjoint approach to studying and modeling this phenomenon. The authors illustrate the approach in a case study that investigates the tendency of Dutch shoppers to combine grocery, drugstore, and clothing purchases across multiple shopping destinations. The authors observe that the tendency of consumers to combine purchases differs from category to category and depends on category availability. In general, consumers combine considerably fewer purchases than could be expected if their shopping trip planning was based purely on travel cost minimization.