Accounting for Exogenous Information on Decision Maker Processing Strategies in Models of Discrete Choice: Attribute Exclusion Strategies in Airline Choice

In this paper, we examine the impact of individual specific information processing strategies (IPS) on the inclusion/exclusion of attributes on the parameter estimates and behavioural outputs of models of discrete choice. Current modelling practice assumes that whilst respondents may exhibit preference heterogeneity, they employ a homogenous IPS with regards to how they process the presence/absence of attributes of SC experiments. We demonstrate how information collected exogenous of the SC experiment on whether respondents either ignored or considered each attribute of the SC task may be used in the estimation process, and how such information may be used to provide outputs that are IPS segment specific. We contend that accounting the inclusion/exclusion of attributes will result in behaviourally richer population parameter estimates.