Customer misbehavior in access-based mobility services: An examination of prevention strategies

Abstract

Customer misbehavior in access-based mobility services such as car sharing and public transport deteriorates the quality and profitability of business models. Basing on organismic integration theory, we propose that service providers can use external regulation or implement introjected actions to reduce customer misbehavior. In two mobility contexts differing in terms of their anonymity dimensions, we test the proposed effects of these two prevention strategies. An 2 × 2 × 2 online experiment with users of public transport (high personal anonymity) and car sharing (high interpersonal anonymity) shows that introjective actions (i.e., normative appeals) and external regulation (i.e., surveillance) are associated with intended consequences regarding misbehavior and motivation to co-create, but also imply unintended consequences (e.g., privacy concerns, negative word-of-mouth, and reduced usage intention). The combined use of both strategies usually proves not to be advantageous, so that the provider actions should be carefully selected depending on the given service setting.