Individuals' social preferences in joint activity location choice: A negotiation model and empirical evidence

Out-of-home leisure activities are often conducted jointly by individuals implying that location and travel choices made for these activities are the result of a group interaction. Current utility-theoretic approaches assume an aggregated group utility function and hence ignore aspects of the group decision making process. In this study, an empirical model of joint-activity choice is developed that, in contrast, assumes a negotiation process. A social utility function describes how individuals deal with preference differences in the group. The model is estimated based on an experimental activity-travel choice task where group settings are mimicked. A sample (N = 315) from a national panel of individuals participated in the experiment. Estimation results based on a discrete mixture model show that individuals display a preference for locations in which losses are equally distributed in the group even when this comes at the costs of the total group outcome. Results further show that the social utility function is asymmetric: compromise solutions are favored more strongly when consequences relate to costs (travel costs) than when they concern rewards (attractiveness). Furthermore, there is considerable heterogeneity in how people make social trade-offs. It is concluded that the model offers new insights in location preferences for joint activities that should be taken into account in spatial choice models and accessibility analysis.