Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Social need
relates to the interaction with others, belonging to a group and having
a social status. The social need is composed of two drives: being similar, indicating a
preference for cars matching those owned by one's social environment (conformity),
and an upward drive, which in the car market usually was directed at bigger and more
expensive cars, but nowadays also seems to be directed towards being “different” and
being less dependent on a large car for deriving status (anti-conformity) (Festinger,
1954; Claidière & Whiten, 2012). Conformity implies liking the same type of car as
its peers. This is formalized as the proportion of peers performing the same behavior
weighed by the similarity of these peers. Concerning the anti-conformity drive an
agent derives satisfaction from having a car that is deviating from the type of car that
peers own. These two social drives imply that agents have to be equipped with a
weighting function in their social need, balancing the similarity and superiority drive.
Empirical data are available concerning the relative importance of both drives, thus
allowing for a precise and detailed modeling of this social need. It is important to
realize that e.g. the social satisfaction with an electric car depends heavily on both the
(anti)-conformist orientation of the agent and the stage of the diffusion (how many
adopted in the agent's social environment).
Personality
relates to satisfying one's personal taste and engaging in activities and
consumption behaviour one likes. A behavioral option may more or less fit with the
personal preferences of an agent, which can be addressed as taste. The more a beha-
vioural option matches the taste of an agent, the more satisfied it will be. Hence the
taste of an agent can be defined as an (multiple) ideal point, and the agent prefers to
minimize the difference between its ideal points and the corresponding scores of the
behavioural option. In the case of cars there is a number of issues related to personal
needs. First a number of questions address the personal joy of using innovative prod-
ucts. Next the personal perspective on environmental issues and energy security
issues (dependency on oil producing countries) is relevant, and these scores are
available.
Uncertainty
of the agents, is important in the selection of a decision-making strat-
egy. In our model uncertainty is coupled to the existence (Ne) and social need (Ns).
For existence the uncertainty is expressed as the variability in the information ob-
tained on the expected utility. Uncertainty concerning existence is measured with 4
questions addressing the (in)security of electric cars concerning life expectancy, en-
durance, safety, maintenance costs and depreciation. Social uncertainty addresses the
proportion of friends using a different fuel than you.
2.2
Consumat Decision-Making and Personal Traits
The decision-making strategy the agents engage in depends on their level of need
satisfaction and uncertainty. Four decision-making strategies are implemented:
Repetition
(when satisfied and certain)
:
consider only the behaviour that one is per-
forming now. Mind that if an agent that has a long time perspective gets new informa-
tion on long term negative outcomes (e.g., environment), this will decrease its
satisfaction and thus may stimulate the agent to search for alternatives. Repetition of
satisfactory behaviour is the main mechanisms behind habitual behaviour. In the
