Interactive agency choice in automobile purchase decisions: The role of negotiation in determining equilibrium choice outcomes

Abstract

There is a renewed interest in the development of behavioural models designed to identify the major determinants of household vehicle purchase. This is due, in part, to the growing interest in the economic viability of the automobile industry, rising fuel costs and increasing enhanced greenhouse gas emissions. The focus of all known research activity is on establishing the preferences for specific vehicle attributes from a single member of a household, almost oblivious to a recognised position that automobile purchase choices are commonly made by more than one decision maker. In this paper we briefly review the state of the art in vehicle purchase decision models, and set out a framework for interactive agency review and assessment of alternatives in the context of two agents negotiating the purchase of an automobile. We estimate a sequence of mixed logit models to illustrate how the method is implemented to accommodate the role of each agent.