Enhancing the Combined-TAM-TPB model with trust in the sharing economy context: A meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach

Abstract

The theories and constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the technology acceptance model (TAM), and trust are all widely discussed in research on the sharing economy. Previous empirical research, however, has yielded inconsistent results about the degree of association in the aforementioned theoretically covered constructs. This study used an integrated model that included the TAM, TPB, and trust to investigate factors that primarily influence participation intention in the sharing economy. A meta-analysis of 146 studies was conducted to summarize effect sizes for 12 pairs of relationships. The findings demonstrate a high positive correlation for each relationship in the model. Then, meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) was used to test the original, the extended Combined-TAM-TPB (C-TAM-TPB), and the extended C-TAM-TPB with trust model (trust-enhanced extended model). The findings indicate that the trust-enhanced extended model has the best explanatory power for the behavioral intention in the sharing economy. We also examined the moderating effects of platform type and economic development level to discover the sources of the inconsistent outcomes of previous studies. The findings show that each relationship varies significantly across platform types, and most relationships are higher in the accommodation-sharing scenario. Besides, the results of the moderating effect of economic development level demonstrate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have a stronger influence on attitude in developed countries. Still, trust has a larger effect on behavioral intention in developing countries.