Adoption of ride-sharing apps by Chinese taxi drivers and its implication for the equality and wellbeing in the sharing economy

Abstract

The adoption of ride-sharing apps is critical to the survival of taxi drivers in the mobile-driven sharing economy. Based on survey data collected from 1195 licensed taxi drivers in Beijing, the authors present an integrated technology adoption model that combines technology and use factors (perceived usefulness and ease of use), social factors (word-of-mouth, peer adoption and subjective norms), system factors (socioeconomic and digital inequality), and audience factors (demographic characteristics and innovative personality traits). The results showed that adoption was innate, inherited, and socially driven. Adoption was positively associated with income, access to technologies, innovative personality trait, peer adoption, word-of-mouth, and perceived usefulness of the apps. The implications of the findings for inequality in the sharing economy are discussed.

Keywords:

• sharing economy
• ride-sharing
• ride-hailing
• technology acceptance model
• technology adoption
• digital divide

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (18BXW112), (17ZDA288), and (15CGL063).

Notes on contributors

Xinchuan Liu

Xinchuan Liu, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University, China. Dr. Liu is a research fellow in the Center for Crisis Management Research (sponsored by Beijing Planning Office of Philosophy & Social Science) and the Director of Academic Department, National Institute of Strategic Communication, Peking University. His research focuses on new media and communication theory, new ICTs and social change.

Weiai Wayne Xu

Weiai (Wayne) Xu, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at University Massachusetts ? Amherst. His research focuses on the role and effects of technology on the flow of information, values, behaviors, and resources in empowering civil societies.