Process and context in choice models

We develop a general framework that extends choice models by including an explicit representation of the process and context of decision making. Process refers to the steps involved in decision making. Context refers to factors affecting the process, focusing in this paper on social networks. The extended choice framework includes more behavioral richness through the explicit representation Mark Lett (2012) 23:439–456 DOI 10.1007/s11002-012-9180-7 M. Ben-Akiva (*) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. de Palma Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, 61 avenue du président Wilson, Cachan 94235, France D. McFadden University of California at Berkeley, 508-1 Evans Hall #3880, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA M. Abou-Zeid American University of Beirut, P.O.Box 11-0236, Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon P.-A. Chiappori Columbia University, 1009A International Affairs Building, MC 3308, 420 West 118th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA M. de Lapparent Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l’Aménagement et des Réseaux, 2 rue de la Butte Verte, Noisy-le-Grand Cedex 93166, France S. N. Durlauf Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison WI 53706, USA M. Fosgerau Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 116 Vest 2800 DK-Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark D. Fukuda Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-M1-11 Ookayama, Meguro-ku 1528552 Tokyo, Japan of the planning process preceding an action and its dynamics and the effects of context (family, friends, and market) on the process leading to a choice, as well as the inclusion of new types of subjective data in choice models. We discuss the key issues involved in applying the extended framework, focusing on richer data requirements, theories, and models, and present three partial demonstrations of the proposed framework. Future research challenges include the development of more comprehensive empirical tests of the extended modeling framework.