A Spatial Agent-Based Consumer Model: Maximizing and Satisficing Behavior within Multi-Store Market

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Omid Roozmand ¹
• DG Webster ²
• Saeed Abdolhosseini ³

¹ Department of Computer Engineering, Shahreza Campus, University of Isfahan, Iran

² Environmental studies program, Dartmouth College, USA

³ Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22067/jstinp.2024.83302.1064

Abstract

In this paper, we propose using a mixed genetic-floyd-warshall algorithm in combination with a Floyd-warshall algorithm to model the satisficing behaviour of consumers across spatially differentiated stores. Consumer agents can pick a basket of goods from different stores to either maximize their utility or to “satisfice” by selecting the first basket with a utility that is higher than their satisfaction threshold. The Floyd-warshall algorithm is used to find the shortest path between two chosen stores by considering travel cost. This cost is then used as part of the fitness function for the genetic algorithm. Price, quality of goods and the cost of the distance to the store, consumers’ preferences for make-decision to buy, and store locations are important factors in consumer agents’ decision-making process. The model is tested based on mechanisms at the individual level to show how the model works and at the macro-level to reproduce foundational theories in economics.

Keywords

• Economic modeling
• Consumer behavior
• knowledge-based decision
• spatial agent-based modeling

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