Understanding the antecedents of car sharing usage: an empirical study in Italy

Abstract

Purpose Sustainable mobility and collaborative consumption are debated issues in the literature. In this field, car sharing (CS) represents a growing tendency that attracts interest by academicians for its potential positive impact on sustainability. This study aims to understand the main drivers of CS usage, unveiling the role of service quality and the possible inhibitors. Design/methodology/approach Based on theoretical assumptions in the literature, the authors developed a theoretical framework that aims at understanding the main antecedents of CS usage. An empirical investigation involving the city of Rome (Italy) was performed. The study presents a qualitative and quantitative survey, while the proposed theoretical model has been tested through structural equation modelling statistical techniques. Findings The findings show that usefulness positively affects the intention to use CS services. Moreover, the green attitude and expected service quality indirectly influence the intention to use CS services impacting perceived usefulness. The results show that the expected service quality has a strong influence on usefulness, whereas green attitude has a weaker influence on usefulness. The intention to use CS services is directly influenced by the usefulness and inhibitors that affect it negatively. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in the fact that this study discloses the main antecedents of the intention to use CS services, emphasizing the role of service quality. This study provides fruitful insights to policy and decision-makers to understand how to improve the CS usage in the urban transport system of the city of Rome. It suggests developing a higher level of service quality in the vehicles, suitable technological applications and effective communication as well as on overcoming its main inhibitors.

Exploring the Motivations of Suppliers in the Collaborative Economy: A Sustainability Approach

“…Interestingly enough, these individuals are significantly less likely to report economic motives as the reasons for providing this service. Similar results were obtained by Böcker and Meelen [23] and Mugion et al [58] who analyzed the reasons for participating in the CE in samples of Amsterdam and Rome populations, respectively. Likewise, Wilhelms et al [59] and Mattia et al [36] concluded that economic motives by themselves were not enough for individuals to offer car sharing services, but social and environmental reasons did matter.…”

Industry 4.0 an empirical analysis of users’ intention in the automotive sector

“…On this strength, users' involvement in knowledge sharing enables commitment, value co-creation and service innovation (Polese et al, 2019). As Guglielmetti Mugion et al (2019) suggest in the car-sharing context, as the usage of high-tech cars is related to the use of technology, it is useful to refer to technology acceptance models. Some authors adopted models to assess acceptance, including the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989;Ghazizadek et al, 2012;Nordhoff et al, 2016).…”

The Psychology of Sharing: Multigroup Analysis among Users and Non-Users of Carsharing

“…The free-floating model has not developed much, while station-based services are prevalent [7]. In Italy, carsharing has consolidated as a recently increasing phenomenon, across 35 cities, with a big fleet and a big market share of freefloating business models [8].…”