Acquisition of Ex-Post Travel Information: A Matter of Balancing Regrets

This paper presents a formal model of the acquisition of ex-post travel information concerning nonchosen alternatives. It is argued that this decision is fundamentally different from the decision to acquire pre-or in-trip information, because the reception of ex-post information on nonchosen alternatives can trigger regret. Psychological theories of regret regulation suggest that when provided with ex-post information, the traveler will make a tradeoff between wanting to ignore information to avoid regret associated with the already executed choice, and wanting to learn from information to minimize regret in future decisions. The presented model captures this tradeoff and predicts under what circumstances ex-post information is likely to be acquired or ignored. An illustrative example, based on parameter estimates from a stated choice experiment, shows how model predictions are in line with intuition and with theories of regret regulation.

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