The sharing economy literature has largely concentrated on the examination of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms such as Airbnb, with little attention paid on other innovations in collaborative consumption. This study investigates consumer adoption of the Uber mobile application through lenses of two theoretical models ā Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Technology Acceptance Model. The results suggest that relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and social influence have a significant influence on both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which in turn lead to subsequent consumer attitudes and adoption intentions. This study demonstrates the integration of the two classic adoption theories.
Introduction
The sharing economy is a trending business concept, which has recently emerged as an innovative business model where people collaboratively make use of underutilized resources in innovative ways (Cohen & Kietzmann, 2014). This new consumption model, described as ādisruptive innovationā, has challenged the traditional business concept by altering the modes of business as well as shifting the concept of consumption ā what to consume and how to consume (Botsman & Rogers, 2011). Most notably, consumers are getting the option to share or rent resources such as cars and rooms from each other rather than from traditional businesses such as taxi companies and hotels (Satama, 2014).
One of the most typical representatives of collaborative consumption adopted in the tourism industry is Uber. Uber utilizes a mobile application that provides an online network for people to share rides by connecting independent drivers and customers (Hall, Kendrick, & Nosko, 2015). It has taken a role of a traditional taxi and is becoming more and more popular, reaching up to 40 million monthly active riders worldwide in 2016 (Kokalitcheva, 2016). Also, its popularity can be seen from the ranking of free download applications both in Apple and Android market, where Uber was ranked top 20 as of 2017 (iTunes; Google Play). In fact, the idea of sharing rides would not have been possible without the development of smartphones as a new technology. Since smartphones are now embedded in peopleās daily lives (Wang, So, & Sparks, 2014), it has changed the way people live, communicate, and conduct transactions (De Ridder, 2016). The unique characteristics of a smartphone include diversifying the input capability, Internet access, and location awareness functions (Want, 2009). These unique functions enable drivers and consumers to receive real-time information of usersā location, which makes their sharing possible. As such, smartphones make it easier for travelers to access the Uber mobile application anytime and anywhere, when they need to take an Uber.
However, despite the increasing adoption of such new technology by travelers, as well as the thriving sharing economy as a whole, few studies have examined the factors affecting the adoption of the Uber mobile application. While a significant body of the literature on the sharing economy is developing, most recent studies have concentrated on the business or governmental perspective, such as impact of Airbnb on the tourism industry (Oskam & Boswijk, 2016), local regulations of Uber (Rauch & Schleicher, 2015), how to overcome regulations as a barrier (Cannon & Summers, 2014), impacts on global sustainability (Cohen & Kietzmann, 2014), rather than focusing on the consumersā perspective. A review of the literature suggests that very limited studies have examined consumersā perspective, with the exception of several recent studies. For example, Zhu, So, and Hudson (2017) examined consumersā motivations behind the adoption of mobile applications of the sharing economy, Liu and Mattila (2017) studied consumer decisions on Airbnb, So, Oh, and Min (2018) modeled motivations and constraints of Airbnb consumers, and Tussyadiah and Pesonen (2016) examined the impact of peer-to-peer accommodation on travelersā behavior. Despite the rapid growth of the sharing economy, the literature still lacks empirical research addressing a critical research question of this phenomenon from the consumerās perspective: What are the main factors that affect consumers to adopt the Uber mobile application (both from the aspect of the business concept and the technological aspect)? As such, this study sets forth to examine factors influencing consumer utilization of the Uber mobile application by integrating diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) and technology acceptance model (TAM).
The new theoretical model introduced in this study contributes to the literature by advancing our current understanding of consumersā adoption behavior through the lens of TAM and DIT, and by providing important practical insights to enhance industry practices. The ensuing section presents the theoretical foundation upon which this investigation is based, followed by a theoretical framework that integrates TAM and DIT. The research hypotheses are developed based on previous relevant literature. Next, the research methodology is discussed along with the results. Finally, this paper concludes with discussions of theoretical and practical implications, as well as the limitations and suggestions for future research.
