Perceived value, service quality and behavioral intentions towards bike-sharing services: Using an extended technology acceptance model

Abstract

In recent years, the bike-sharing industry has experienced rapid development as a business model but still faces several challenges. Prior research has predominantly focused on bicycle service quality and traffic safety from the perspective of companies. This article takes a consumer-centered approach and incorporates security as a crucial perceptual factor into the technology acceptance model. Drawing on the consumer perceived value theory, we employ app perceived value and bicycle perceived value as mediating variables to construct a model of consumers' behavioral intentions to use bike-sharing. The study finds that app perceived value and bicycle perceived value are strong predictors of consumers' willingness to use bike-sharing. At the same time, app perceived value also indirectly affects their perceived behavioral control of using bike-sharing through the mediating role of bicycle perceived value. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness, ease of use, and security of the app are found to positively impact app perceived value, which in turn increases the preference for bike-sharing of consumers. In conclusion, these findings provide practical management recommendations for bike-sharing companies to balance and enhance app services and the quality of the bicycle, thus enabling the ride-hailing ecosystem to generate more sustainable urban transport solutions.