Effects of perceived safety, involvement and perceived service quality on loyalty intention among ride-sourcing passengers

• Published in: Transportation (Dordrecht) Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 369 - 393
• Main Authors: Su, Diep Ngoc, Nguyen-Phuoc, Duy Quy, Johnson, Lester W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Car sharing; Developing countries; Economic Geography; Economics; Economics and Finance; Engineering Economics; Financial performance; Innovation/Technology Management; LDCs; Logistics; Loyalty; Marketing; Multivariate statistical analysis; Organization; Passenger safety; Passenger satisfaction; Passengers; Public transportation; Quality of service; Regional/Spatial Science; Regulation; Safety; Sourcing; Transportation systems; Involvement; Perceived safety; Loyalty; Service quality; Satisfaction; Ride-sourcing
• ISSN: 0049-4488; 1572-9435
• DOI: 10.1007/s11116-019-10058-y

Ride-sourcing services are increasingly popular since they were first introduced in the last decade. Particularly in developing countries where public transport systems have received less investment, ride-sourcing services are considered to be an informal form of public transport and have become an indispensable part of the transport systems. This study aims to construct and validate an integrated framework to explore the direct and indirect relationships between four constructs (perceived service quality, perceived safety, involvement and satisfaction) and passengers’ loyalty in the context of ride-sourcing services. By using data from a survey conducted in Vietnam from November to December 2018, partial least squares-structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the conceptualised model. The findings show that perceived service quality, involvement and satisfaction are found to be good predictors of passengers’ loyalty to ride-sourcing services while the direct relationship between perceived safety and loyalty has not been confirmed. However, involvement is found to fully mediate the causal link from perceived safety to loyalty. The research results should help ride-sourcing firms increase their financial performance and assist authorities to develop policies and regulations for ensuring passengers’ safety.