| Abstract: | The concept of utility emanating from decision theory is employed in applied research aiming to understand and forecast the travel choices the general public make. Related to a distinction between telic and autotelic motivational theories, it is argued that in this area the prevalent definition of utility as goal-related evaluations of outcomes of activities (goal utility) needs to be complemented by the notion that utility is also experienced from performing the activities themselves (process utility). The validity of the distinction thus introduced between goal and process utility was demonstrated empirically in two studies of choices of travel destinations. In Experiment 1, one group of students rated the likelihood of patronizing fictitious grocery stores and another group rated the likelihood of impulse purchases in these stores. In addition to travel time, the rated likelihood of patronizing the stores was independently affected by the number of desirable goods available to purchase (goal utility) and the quality of personal services provided by staff (process utility). In contrast, the rated likelihood of impulse purchases was only affected by the latter. In Experiment 2, similar results were obtained for choices of fictitious grocery stores by a representative sample of car-owning households participating in a travel survey. |
