6.1. Discussions of Results
This study reveals that the intention to use SPSSs can be predicted by the proposed model (R2 = 0.461). PEOU and PU significantly and directly affect the intention of use SPSSs in sharing economy. The total effects of PEOU and PU are 0.395 and 0.526, respectively. This implies that to effectively promote the use of SPSSs in the sharing economy, it is important to make users believe that SPSSs will enhance their task performance and using SPSSs will be free of effort. Of these two drivers, PU is found to have the most significant influence on behavioral intention (β = 0.526). This highlights that PU plays a key role in predicting the user’s behavior in using SPSSs.
In addition, this study seeks to determine significant factors influencing the user’s PEOU and PU. The results reveal that PU is significantly attributed to three factors (PEOU, perceived substitutability, and network externality) that together account for 60.4% of the observed variance while explaining the PU. PEOU and network externality are found to have almost the same effect on PU (β = 0.348 and β = 0.341, respectively). Without perceived substitutability and network externality, the access-based services will not be available. In this case, with the increase in the number of users of smart shared bicycles, the number of access-based service points will be increased since smart shared bicycle service providers are willing to release more smart shared bicycles to the market. Thus, the users will find that the SPSSs are more useful – this is why network externality is an important antecedent for the PU of SPSSs. At the same time, users use smart shared bicycles for transportation because those bicycles can act as a substitute to self-owned bicycles and other transportation equipment. It explains why substitutability of the smart shared products can affect users’ perception of the usefulness of SPSSs. If a user finds that he or she cannot easily get a smart shared bicycle on the streets when he or she needs this service, the user will feel that SPSSs are not easy to use. Moreover, the indirect impact of PEOU on the intention of use through PU is 0.183 (see
Table 4). The indirect effects of perceived substitutability and network externality are 0.144 and 0.179, respectively. This study shows that when consumers feel an SPSS is easy to use, the smart shared products have a large number of users, and the smart shared products are a close substitute for owned products, the consumers will perceive SPSS as useful and therefore they have a stronger intention to use it.
The results reveal that PEOU is significantly attributed to the perceived interactivity of mobile apps (i.e., perceived communication, perceived control, and perceived responsiveness) and perceived ubiquity of smart shared products. These four factors account for approximately 53.7% of the observed variance while explaining PEOU. Especially, in the three dimensions of perceived interactivity, perceived control is found to have the most significant influence on PEOU, with a coefficient much higher than the others (β = 0.368). The user perceives an SPSS to be easy to use only if he or she experiences better control of mobile apps. Besides, the responsiveness of mobile apps is also very important for PEOU (β= 0.220), because a fast and consistent response can lead to an “easy to use” feeling on the apps. Of course, reciprocal communication is necessary for making a mobile app easy to use. Without perceived ubiquity, the product cannot be easily shared. Moreover, the indirect impact of perceived communication, perceived control, perceived responsiveness, and perceived ubiquity on the intention of use are 0.058, 0.146, 0.087, and 0.059, respectively (see
Table 4). The result implies that when consumers feel the mobile app is more interactive and they are able to access smart shared products anywhere and anytime, they will perceive that SPSSs are more easy to use and will have a stronger intention to use the SPSSs. This study shows that perceived control plays an important role in shaping users’ PEOU and affects users’ behavior intention to use SPSSs. Similarly, perceived communication, perceived responsiveness, and perceived ubiquity predict PEOU of SPSSs.
6.2. Conclusions
The primary objective of this study is to identify the determinants of consumers’ acceptance of SPSSs in an access-based service or sharing economy. This study takes a systems view on SPSSs and adopts TAM as a basic theoretical framework for exploring the determinants from two core components of SPSSs (i.e. smart sharing products and mobile apps) and their effects.
The study results indicate that the perceived interactivity of mobile apps and the particularity of smart shared products are two sets of antecedents of consumers’ intention to use the SPSSs. It has been found that control, responsiveness, and communication of mobile apps, and perceived ubiquity of smart shared products, positively and significantly affect the PEOU of SPSSs, while perceived substitutability and network externality of smart shared products positively and significantly influence the PU of SPSSs. The positive impacts of PEOU and PU on the behavioral intention to use SPSSs are also found. The results of the second-order model further show that perceived interactivity has a significant effect on the PEOU of SPSS, and perceived particularity has a significant effect on PU.
6.3. Theoretical Implications
For academic researchers, this study contributes to the following theoretical implications. First, this study is a pioneer in applying a system theory (by extending TAM) in researching a business model of sharing economy. The results of the study stress the point that once users perceive the usefulness of SPSSs, they are likely to accept and use the SPSSs. These findings are in line with previous acceptance research [
16,
38]. The results of this study also indicate that PEOU increases the PU of SPSSs, as presented by the findings of previous studies [
16,
19]. The emergence of smart technologies (e.g., sensors and GPS) for SPSSs is one of the reasons for the rapid expansion of the sharing economy (such as sharing cars and bicycles in the transportation mode). In the past, for studying PSSs, researchers seldom employed the models of technology acceptance (e.g., TRA and TAM). This indicates that few researchers treat PSSs as ‘systems’. Although the concept of SPSSs is extended from PSSs, SPSSs involve using smart technologies to facilitate the delivery of access-based services. Therefore, this study takes a system view on SPSSs and successfully applies TAM in studying the acceptance of a type of use-oriented SPSSs – the bike sharing programs in China. This study can lead a trend of using technology acceptance theories to study different business models of the sharing economy.
For studying the effects related to smart shared products, this study introduces the concept of particularity. Particularity is a term that refers to the particular characteristics of a product for which the access-based services are supported. The results of the HCM analysis confirm that perceived particularity is a source of the PU of SPSSs. Thus, SPSSs become useful for users with particular functions which support the access-based services of smart shared products. Although most of the previous studies on sharing programs indicated that perceived ubiquity [
82], perceived substitutability [
17], and network externality [
83] had impacts on the likelihood of choosing shared products, this study is the first that groups these three factors together. The results of the study show that network externality and perceived substitutability are important determinants of PU. These results are consistent with previous studies [
24,
84]. Furthermore, this study confirms that perceived ubiquity positively affects the PEOU of SPSSs. This is because ubiquity-specific attributes have been treated as external factors [
55] or value sources [
19] for PEOU. As Lytras and Visvizi suggested, users require the advanced mobility and availability of transparent ubiquitous services that are simple to use [
85]. This study contributes to a group of antecedents of the particularity of smart shared products for researchers to design their research in sharing economy. The concept of particularity introduced in this study is not only limited to the study of SPSSs in the sharing economy, but can also be applied in other research areas where a special service is available only when the related product has particular characteristics.
The results of the HCM analysis confirm that perceived interactivity is a source of PEOU of SPSSs. Therefore, SPSSs become easier for users with the increased interactivity of mobile apps. Although some researchers recently studied the interactive features of mobile apps and their effects on user behavior, most of them employed a single dimension measurement, such as Shin et al. [
86]. This study validates that the three dimensions of interactivity developed by Song and Zinkhan [
14] can be applied in studying SPSSs in an access-based service or sharing economy context. In Song and Zinkhan’s [
19] study, they did not directly compare the effects of three elements on certain outcomes. This study finds that perceived control is the most important component affecting users’ perception in ease of use. Therefore, this study provides researchers with a reference for using these three dimensions of interactivity in their mobile commerce research.
For designing a research model, this study shows how to integrate TAM with related determinants. For example, SPSSs include two core components (the smart sharing products and mobile apps), thus perceived interactivity and perceived particularity are proposed to address these two core components, respectively. The values of CR (>0.7) and AVE (>0.5) of the second-order model analysis confirm the setting of the reflective second-order measurement scale. Therefore, there is a reflective relationship between the second-order component and the first-order components. Thus, researchers can follow this case to construct their research models referring to the core components of the systems that they intend to study.
As mentioned by Goedkoop et al. [
31], sustainability is an important characteristic of use-oriented PSSs. Therefore, SPSSs should support sustainability. In this case, having the particularity of smart shared bikes and interactivity of bike sharing mobile apps, consumers can assess smart shared bikes anytime and anywhere, so consumers are willing to use them to substitute traditional transportation equipment. Therefore, bike sharing programs provide environmental sustainability in reducing air pollution emissions. People save money by using shared bikes in their daily travel and smart shared bikes providers and their supply chains can earn money from bike sharing operations. Then, bike sharing programs provide economic sustainability in obtaining monetary benefits for each stakeholder. Cycling (as a physical exercise) makes people happy, releases stress, is healthy, and improves mental well-being. Therefore, bike sharing programs provide social sustainability in improving human health status. This study shows how the particularity of smart shared products and interactivity of mobile apps enable SPSSs to provide benefits for sustainability.
6.4. Practical Implications
This study generates some potentially important insights for the SPSSs providers and smart cities strategy considerations. First, PU has a positive impact on SPSSs adoption. The high coefficient value (β = 0.526) indicates that the users are very concerned about the usefulness of using SPSSs. This study tests two antecedents of the PU of SPSSs. As recommended by Hsu and Lin [
24], providers should accelerate the network effects to achieve a perception of critical mass through word-of-mouth and mass advertisements. For increasing the network size, the providers can offer a family package or group package. These types of packages can quickly enlarge the user base. Furthermore, the providers should emphasize the substitutability of the smart shared bicycles through the marketing media: The smart shared bicycles can not only replace private bicycles, but also be served as a transit tool to link up mass transportation equipment.
Second, PEOU not only has a direct effect, but also has an indirect impact, on the intention of use through PU. Therefore, the providers should also make the SPSSs easier to use, especially the mobile apps. In this study, four antecedents that can affect the PEOU of SPSSs are tested. On the mobile apps side, perceived interactivity is crucial to motivate the adoption among most users. Therefore, providers should be aware of the importance of interactivity of mobile apps. When designing the mobile apps, the designers should ensure that the design of mobile apps can support two-way communication in different communication channels. For example, mobile apps should be linked up with other social media, so as to enable users to communicate with providers through different social media. Furthermore, the providers should recruit users and obtain their experience in designing the control flow in searching services, placing orders, and making payment for the shared bicycle services. In the back-end service, the developers should investigate the mechanism running in the back-end servers in order to speed up the responsibility for solving the requests issued from the users. On the smart shared products side, the providers should not only focus on increasing the numbers of smart shared bicycles, but also manage the distributions of service points and make sure that users can find the smart shared bicycles once they need them anywhere.
Third, this study is also helpful for policy-makers to develop strategies for building smart cities. Since interaction unfolds at the intersection of the supply of information which enhances e-services for citizens [
87], improving the communication, control, and responsiveness of mobile apps helps to enhance the willingness of city inhabitants to adopt and use SPSSs. The adoption and diffusion of SPSSs by citizens can make urban spaces truly smart [
87,
88]. Therefore, policy-making and strategy considerations for smart cities need to focus on human-centric SPSSs development and smart cities infrastructure construction.
6.5. Limitation and Future Research
The present study has several inevitable limitations and the results need to be interpreted with caution. First, data were collected in China. Therefore, the results may not be generalized for other countries. Future studies using this research model in other countries are recommended in order to further validate the research model. Second, this study only focuses on the use-oriented SPSSs. Hence, the findings of this study should not be generalized and applied to result- or product-oriented SPSSs adoption, such as launderettes or print services. Third, this study proposes a research model that consists of the interactivity of mobile apps and particularity of smart shared products as antecedents of PU and PEOU that influence the behavioral intention to use SPSSs. However, TAM has evolved into the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and UTAUT2, so more predictors of adoption are suggested, such as social influence, facilitating conditions, price, and habit. Furthermore, since this study is an exploratory study, only six elements are selected under perceived interactivity of mobile apps and particularity of smart shared products, so researchers may consider amending the structure of perceived interactivity and perceived particularity in their future research. Future research may investigate the influences of these additional variables to gain a better understanding of the adoption of SPSSs.