Intra-household interactions in transport research: a review

Abstract

Recognition that individuals do not make their travel decisions in isolation of the household context has produced a growing interest in intra-household interactions and group decision-making. The behavioural realism of travel demand models that explicitly accommodate intra-household interactions is expected to provide more insight into travel behaviour and a more credible analysis of travellers’ response to transport policy than models that deal with household interactions in a ‘black box’. This paper reviews the literature on group decisions and intra-household interactions. How intra-household interactions influence the way in which decisions are made is expounded and empirical findings are drawn upon to argue for why the study of intra-household interactions is important. Various analytical techniques and data requirements are discussed to show how intra-household interactions can be handled. Drawing on this review, the impact of intra-household interactions on travel behaviour and implications for transport policy are identified and directions for further study suggested.

Keywords:

• intra-household interaction
• group decision
• activity-based model
• joint travel
• joint activity

Acknowledgements

We thank the four reviewers for their constructive and thoughtful comments which have materially improved the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.