I like it, but I don't use it: Impact of carsharing business models on usage intentions in the sharing economy

Abstract

Carsharing is often promoted as a potentially environmental-friendly alternative toindividual car ownership. However, various carsharing programs have displayed lim-ited success in the past. An initial field study of a new carsharing service is such astory of failure: The introduction of this new service at a medium-sized German uni-versity generated unexpectedly low adoption rates so that the service was eventuallyscaled down and then suspended. Quantitative field study results as well as addi-tional qualitative focus groups reveal that missing compatibility is a key barrier toadoption. Drawing on extant conceptual frameworks of user participation in sharingbusiness models, a factorial survey identifies the importance of different dimensionsof carsharing business models for their acceptance. The results reveal that a set ofconvenience and lifestyle dimensions influences usage intentions, including mode ofdrive, pickup and drop-off mode, service level, price model, availability, and type ofmarket mediation. In contrast, vehicle fleet does not appear to influence carsharingmodels' acceptance. These findings contribute to research on business model config-uration as well as the attitude-behavior gap in the sharing economy by determiningrelevant dimensions of a carsharing business model that can bridge the gap betweenbasically positive attitudes and usage resistance. Thereby, they also serve for con-crete managerial recommendations.