The role of attribute processing strategies in estimating the preferences of road freight stakeholders

Choice behaviour studies typically assume passive bounded rationality, suggesting that decision makers process all information given to them with equal attention. However, it is probable that decision makers invoke any number of attribute processing strategies (APSs) when weighing the characteristics of candidate alternatives against one another. Utilising data from a study of urban road freight stakeholders evaluating alternative packages of component trip times, fuel costs and variable user charges, this paper shows that accounting for APS heterogeneity associate with each alternative in each choice set results in differing marginal disutilities and willingness to pay for components of travel time, compared to a model which assumes passive bounded rationality. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.