There’s only one other country that comes close to matching the U.S. in
terms of ride-sharing market volume. Gross bookings in China are expected to
amount to roughly $10 billion this year, and as the graphic shows above, well
ahead of the U.K. and Japan which are ranked third and fourth. The Chinese
market is dominated by local player Didi Chuxing, which acquired Uber’s China
business last year in exchange for a sizeable stake in the newly merged
company. But why is it that the Chinese are so willing to adopt ride-sharing
apps? According to new research, it is not just about cost.
In a new paper just published in the International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, HRSM professors
Kevin So and Simon Hudson – along with Ge Zhu from Beijing Information Science and Technology University - explored what
motivates consumers in China to adopt ridesharing apps. Using social cognitive
theory as the theoretical framework, the team developed a value adoption model
to illustrate important factors that influence adoption of ridesharing
applications. What they found was that it wasn’t just functional values such as
convenience and
cost-effectiveness that motivated
consumers. They were also attracted to ride-sharing because of the emotional
and social benefits. This tends to support research that has been done with
users of Airbnb where consumers say that the sharing economy provides
more fun, is better for the environment, and builds a stronger
community. What this suggests is that traditional companies trying to compete
with the sharing economy could compete by making more of an emotional/social
connection with customers. Dr. Hudson is exploring this further within the
context of accommodations, and has just written a paper with PhD student Jing
Li for Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Cases illustrating how hotels can compete with the sharing economy by ‘getting social’.
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