Task-allocation among adult household members by activity purpose and accompanying person

This paper investigates household task allocation decisions for non-work activity episodes by activity purpose and accompanying person arrangements. The paper utilizes activity-travel behavior information of all adult members (above 19 years) from a family to model the activity episodes aggregated at the household level. Such an approach gives a better perspective on the latent propensity of household members to engage in out-of-home activities. The nature (substitution or complementary) of the inter- and intra-group interaction between household and non-household members is examined using a multivariate ordered probit model estimated on activity-travel behavior survey data, consisting of 1335 households and 3639 adult individuals, collected in Bhubaneswar Municipal Region, India. The exploratory analysis sheds light on the preferences of household members for pursuing an activity episode (shopping, pure escort, other maintenance, physically active recreation, and physically passive recreation) either alone or jointly with immediate family members or non-household (extended family members or members from social circle) members. The correlation matrix consisting of 19 dimensions suggests significant inter-group substitution effects across the four accompaniment types for different non-work activities. The intra-group effects are complementary in the case of joint pursuits highlighting the likelihood of adult household members adhering to the same accompanying group. The model also suggests that the effect of individual characteristics, household socio-demographics, and seasonal and temporal characteristics are more impactful than vehicle ownership and built environment features. The study also presents the elasticity estimates of selected control variables and discusses their policy implications from a broad viewpoint.