Can Personality Traits Explain Where and With Whom You Recreate? A Latent-Class Site-Choice Model Informed by Estimates From Mixed-Mode LC Cluster Models With Latent-Personality Traits

We test and find that personality traits interact with site characteristics and the ability of a potential companion to determine where, and with whom you recreate. 4605 mountain bikers chose between multiple pairs of hypothetical mountain-bike rides, and, in addition, answered Likert-scale questions on sensation-seeking, competitiveness and extroversion. For each personality trait, a mixed-mode latent-class cluster model was estimated, accounting for that fact that the indicators can have ordinal, cardinal or nominal meaning. Most LC models ignore these distinctions. Our model also allows the scores on questions to be correlated, even after conditioning on class (typically assumed away). Then, a latent-class choice model of trail attributes and companion's ability was estimated using the choice-pair data, with the estimated latent personality-traits as covariates. Three choice classes are identified and the odds of being in each varies by personality: estimated choice probabilities and WTP estimates vary significantly and substantially by class and personality type.