Evidence for Acceptance of Ride-Hailing Services in Iran

Abstract

Ride-hailing, as an important part of the sharing economy in the transport sector, has gradually become a popular model of travel. Nowadays, ride-hailing is rapidly being adopted in Iran. Thus, there is a necessity to explore the factors that determine potential users’ acceptance of ride-hailing services. To do so, a model was developed from a combination of the technology acceptance model with the information system success model and trust. About 500 users participated in this study, and 466 valid responses were collected. Structural equation modeling with mediation analysis was used to examine the data. Information and service quality have a significant influence on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. As predicted, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use both had a positive relationship with trust, and perceived usefulness had a positive relationship with behavioral intention. However, the predicted relationship that perceived ease of use had a positive relationship with behavioral intention was rejected. Furthermore, results underline the important role of trust as a mediator variable in the model. The model confirmed good explanatory power in the context of ride-hailing. This study expands the literature on technology acceptance by examining the mediating role of trust, a topic that has not previously been investigated. The paper points to the central role of trust in increasing intention to use ride-hailing, and ultimately the likelihood of this behavior.

Demand Modeling for Taxi and Ride-hailing Transport Services (RTS)

“…In modeling taxi demand, a conceptual framework was also developed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, with income observed as the primary driver of travel mode choice [40], and in SEM with mediation analysis, information and service quality have a significant influence [41]. Moreover, the car-sharing decision parameters were estimated based on the stated choice data using a Bayesian D-efficient optimal design [5].…”

Intentions to use ride-sourcing services in Vietnam: What happens after three months without COVID-19 infections?

“…The studies of Haldar and Goel (2019) and Septiani et al (2017) provided further insight into predicting behavioural intentions to use ride-sourcing services by integrating the TPB and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Studies on the behavioural intention of using ride-sharing applications were also conducted in many LMICs (i.e., Malaysia ( Choong & Goh, 2021 ), Bangladesh ( Karim et al, 2020 ), Iran ( Akbari et al, 2020 ), and Hong Kong ( Lee et al, 2018 )) by considering various additional influential constructs in TPB such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, safety risk, perceived trust or perceived usability.…”

“…Thus, the arrival of ride-sourcing services has contributed to the rapid growth of transport-for-hire services in big cities in over 66 countries ( Contreras & Paz, 2018 ). Up to now, most of the understanding on the use of ride-sourcing services is from high-income countries and China ( Acheampong et al, 2020 ; Akbari et al, 2020 ; Contreras & Paz, 2018 ; Gilibert et al, 2019 ; Guo et al, 2020 ; Henao & Marshall, 2019 ; Xiong et al, 2021 ). However, little is known about the use of or the intention to use ride-sourcing services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) ( Javaid et al, 2019 ; Nguyen-Phuoc et al, 2021c ).…”