Travel Mode Choices in a Greening Market: The Impact of Electric Vehicles and Prior Investments

Through a choice experiment conducted among 995 Swiss respondents, we studied the linkages between prior investment decisions and the choice of travel mode. Our experimental design and empirical framework aimed to identify the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) and to test for two behavioral deviations from rationally optimal usage. Prior investment in a car or public transport pass could be used ex ante as a commitment device for overcoming self-control issues, or could affect mode choices ex post through the regret effect of sunk costs. We found no evidence to support the sunk cost hypothesis, but our findings provided partial evidence in favor of commitment mechanisms. A prior investment decision decreased the consumer’s responsiveness to variation of travel time. However, such commitments did not seem to influence responses to changes in marginal travel costs. Further, we found that EV adoption in the experiment did not result in a significant step-change in hypothetical usage patterns above rational marginal cost reactions. Our results thus reinforced the importance of financial incentives in policies aimed at a behavioral change in travel mode choices.

Join In . . . and Drop Out? Firm Adoption of and Disengagement From Voluntary Environmental Programs

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) offer opportunities for companies and stakeholders to improve environmental outcomes valued by society in the absence of regulatory mandates. Research has addressed numerous antecedents for firm adoption of VEPs, enhancing knowledge of how stakeholders and firms engage on substantive issues of public importance. However, program adoption is dynamic, and stagnant participation rates may threaten program longevity when firms do not realize expected benefits. Prior literature has not sufficiently addressed the factors that compel firms to drop out. In this study I articulate three consequential drivers of firm commitment to VEPs—transparency, effort, and achievement—and empirically estimate their effects on firm disengagement from one such prominent program: CDP (formerly known as Carbon Disclosure Project). Findings indicate that firm transparency and effort represent powerful commitment mechanisms driving continued program participation. This study contributes to theory over multiple literatures related to VEP participation and offers practical guidance for both VEPs and firms.

The Mechanism of Empathy and Relationship Commitment Through Emojis: Path to Perspective Taking, Inner Imitation, Emotional Empathy, and Relationship Commitment

We analyzed empathy and relationship commitment mechanisms through emojis. We defined emojis based on theoretical reviews and neuroscientific studies as a mind reading process. Perspective taking, inner imitation, and emoji cognition were independent variables. Emotional empathy and emotional response was the mediating variable. Relationship commitment and behavioral response was the dependent variable. Analyzing the relationship between variables indicated emotional empathy and relationship commitment through emojis having positive (+) relationships with “perspective taking” and “inner imitation,” the two dimensions of mind reading (cognitive and emotional) and, among them, a stronger positive (+) relationship with inner imitation, which is simulation theory’s (ST) cognitive process. Relationship commitment through emojis was strongly related to emotional empathy as a mediating factor than being directly related to cognitive processes (perspective taking, inner imitation). Moreover, considering inner imitation’s influence being greater than perspective taking, relationship commitment through emojis is mainly caused by emotional empathy with inner imitation as a mediating factor.

Private Paternalism, the Commitment Puzzle, and Model-Free Equilibrium

Paternalism is a policy that advances an individual's interests by restricting his or her freedom. In a setting with present-biased agents, I characterize the scope of private paternalism—paternalism implemented by private institutions. Private paternalism arises from two channels: (i) agents who seek commitment because they hold sophisticated beliefs about their present bias, and (ii) agents (naive or sophisticated) who use model-free forecasts to choose organizations that have a history of generating high experienced utility flows for their members (O'Donoghue and Rabin 1999b). When naive consumers are common, private paternalism will be shrouded, explaining why commitment mechanisms are typically shrouded in the labor market (the commitment puzzle). Private paternalism has greater traction when production occurs in the formal sector instead of the informal (household) sector, where monitors are not always present, able, or willing to implement socially efficient forcing mechanisms.

Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the key findings of the book, and puts them into the larger perspective of both party politics and representative government. It argues that we need to adjust our understanding of how the ‘party in the legislature’ in Europe functions, and understand it as a horizontal rather than hierarchical organization, where disciplinary tools are commitment mechanisms between rank-and-file legislators rather than a top-down tool for leaders to impose their policy preferences on their legislative parties. The chapter also suggests avenues for future research, pointing in particular to the need for regular, comparative, parliamentary surveys across countries to be conducted.