Introducing a three‐tier sustainability framework to examine bike‐sharing system use: An extension of the technology acceptance model

Abstract

There is growing interest among the general public and researchers in the sharing economy, because of its profound impact on individuals, businesses and governments today. A particular kind of the sharing economy is bike‐sharing systems which provide benefits for users, societies and the environment, suggesting sustainability could play an important role in their use. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to examine bike‐sharing users through a three‐tier framework, where sustainability is considered at multiple tiers, that is, micro (personality), mezzo (relations) and macro (system) tiers. In line with this proposition, the conceptual model is an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), representing factors at the macro tier, that is, perceived sustainable usefulness and ease‐of‐use, influenced by bike quality. The effect of sustainable subjective norms on loyalty plays out at the mezzo tier, while sustainable extraversion is linked to loyalty at the micro tier. The model was tested on a sample of bike‐sharing system users. The results show that bike quality positively influences perceived sustainable usefulness, but not ease‐of‐use; however, ease‐of‐use positively influences loyalty among users, while usefulness does not. In addition, sustainable subjective norms and sustainable extraversion have a significant positive effect on user bike‐sharing system loyalty. The findings offer a range of implications for the providers of bike‐sharing systems, municipalities and governments which are promoting alternative means of transportation to reduce the carbon footprint.

Factors Affecting Electric Bike Adoption: Seeking an Energy-Efficient Solution for the Post-COVID Era

“…Attitude refers to a person's positive thinking about behavior. Currently, Jamšek and Culiberg (2020) found the relationship between "perceived sustainable usefulness" and the technology acceptance model. Bike quality influences perceived sustainable usefulness, and use loyalty advances their proposed idea.…”

Intrinsic motivators of collaborative consumption: A study of accommodation rental services

“…Finally, social and environmental consciousness is one of the key motives of cosmopolitan consumer behaviour and a socially responsible brand image would be more appealing to these consumers. Thus, a message emphasizing the contribution of CC on sustainability (Jamšek & Culiberg, 2020) and protecting nature would help to engage cosmopolitans in CC.…”

“…Besides, researchers have increasingly focused on the predictive ability of five personality traits on sustainable consumer behaviour (e.g., Hirsh, 2010; Hirsh & Dolderman, 2007; Yazdanpanah & Hosseinlou, 2017). Moreover, there is a call for future research to examine the effects of other personality traits on SE consumer behaviour (i.e., Jamšek & Culiberg, 2020). Following this call and new research stream in SE, openness to experience is selected as the first antecedent of CC participation intention of consumers.…”

How perceived green benefits influence multifunctional technologies’ usage

“…Recent studies have suggested that consumers’ interest and value perceptions have increased in relation to sustainability and the environment (Arruda Filho & Brito, 2017; Iyer & Reczek, 2017; Jamšek & Culiberg, 2020; Kieckhäfer et al, 2017; Nekmahmud & Fekete‐Farkas, 2020; Sheng et al., 2019). But in which scenarios does this proposition hold true?…”

“…The greenness integrated in specific products could interfere in consumers’ perceptions in this new environment of high technological development with respect to their social values, trust, knowledge, personal norms, and perceived effectiveness, where the products in question are general products that they already know (Joshi & Rahman, 2015). Currently, green integrations (i.e., a convergence of green characteristics) are typically perceived as being related to the new environment of high‐technology products, such as cars with reduced environmental impact (Danilecki et al., 2017), electronic products made from recycled materials or with reduced energy usage (Kieckhäfer et al., 2017), environmentally friendly technologies (Kumar et al, 2017), and bike‐sharing systems in which sustainability plays a relevant role in their use (Jamšek & Culiberg, 2020).…”