Cumulative prospect theory coupled with multi-attribute decision making for modeling travel behavior

Kun Gao, Lijun Sun, Ying Yang, Fanyu Meng and Xiaobo Qu

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2021, vol. 148, issue C, 1-21

Abstract: This study proposes an approach for modeling travel behavior under uncertainty coupling Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) with Multi-attribute Decision Making (MADM) theory. CPT is utilized to depict travelers’ evaluations of each attribute, and MADM describes the process of making tradeoffs among multiple conflicting criteria. Divergent perception principles for different attributes are considered in the proposed framework. The proposed approach is utilized for an empirical analysis concerning mode shift behavior for commuting in Shanghai of China, based on data collected by stated preference surveys. Results show that the proposed approach outperforms conventional methods in terms of model performances and behavioral revelations. Empirical results demonstrate that sensitivity to gains and losses in cost and travel time are divergent in mode shift behavior. More importantly, it is found that travelers underestimate the occurrence chances of low-probability travel time and overestimate the occurrence changes of high-probability travel time in mode shift behavior, which is contrary to the findings from economics. Travelers show substantial loss aversion features as well. The heterogeneity in the value functions of CPT is investigated to shed light on differences in the evaluation process among individuals. Results reveal quite different empirical CPT parameters and behavioral mechanisms in mode shift behavior as compared to monetary experiments in economics. It highlights the importance of empirical estimations in various travel choice contexts to essentially understand travel behavior mechanisms, rather than arbitrary usage of findings from economics.

Keywords: Sustainable transportation; Cumulative prospect theory; Nonlinear sensitivity; Smart mobility; Probability weighting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856421000884
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:148:y:2021:i:c:p:1-21

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2021.03.025

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().