Abstract
Sharing economy (SE) platforms have become increasingly popular. However, some platform enterprises have engaged in problematic behavior, such as collecting and using personal information in serious violation of the relevant laws and regulations, making improving existing institutional mechanisms an urgent matter. This study develops a conceptual model based on institution-based trust to examine the effect of SE institutional mechanisms on consumer trust in sharing platforms and continuance intention toward the SE in China. In addition, this study investigates the moderating role of gender in the path relationship between the second-order construct “perceived effectiveness of sharing economy institutional mechanisms” (PESEIM) and consumer trust. SPSS23.0 and SmartPLS3.0 were used to empirically test the data collected from DiDi users in China. The results of the analysis indicate that PESEIM has significant positive impacts on consumer trust, which in turn enhances consumers’ continuance intention to use the DiDi platform, and that consumer trust can also mitigate perceived risk while promoting continuance intention. Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) results show that government regulation and privacy assurance are critical factors for sustaining continuance intention toward ride-sharing platforms. Furthermore, the results of multigroup analysis show that PESEIM has a stronger impact on male users than female consumers in building consumer trust.
Highlights
In recent years, large numbers of sharing economy (SE) platforms have emerged and gradually become a popular trend
Taking previous studies as a foundation [3], [4], [7], we propose a new set of institutional structures integrating the following two types of institutional mechanisms to investigate how consumer trust in sharing platforms is formed and how it takes effect in the SE context: platformbased mechanisms at the micro level [2], [23], including feedback mechanisms, verification and authentication mechanisms, privacy assurance, and dispute resolution, which have a direct impact on trust on sharing platforms, and regulatory mechanisms at the macro level, including government regulation and industry self-regulation [6], [24]– [26], which constitute the external institutional and regulatory environment and may have a direct impact on consumer trust in sharing platforms
This study provides a clear overview of six SE institutional mechanisms that influence continuance intention regarding the use of ride-sharing platforms, enhanced by employing Importance-Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) [27]
Summary
Large numbers of sharing economy (SE) platforms have emerged and gradually become a popular trend. On July 2, 2021, the Chinese government ordered the DiDi platform to remove its app from app stores for collecting and using personal information in serious violation of the relevant laws and regulations. When this news broke, it focused attention on the domestic sharing platforms’ institutional defects and the loopholes in government supervision mechanisms. The development of the SE model has entered a turning point, and restructuring and adjustment are needed. The sharing platforms’ structures and mechanisms and the government’s regulatory measures need to be continuously improved
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