Customer acceptance of ride-hailing in Indonesia

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the enabling factors and the customers’ acceptance of ride-hailing in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt some constructs from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) 2 as the framework for the study to derive factors that influence the acceptance of ride-hailing in Indonesia. Samples through a convenience sampling method were collected from an online survey and were transformed into data through coding and subsequently processed using SPSS for descriptive analysis, reliability test, correlation and multiple regression analysis for hypothesis testing. Findings Ride-hailing started in 2015 in Indonesia. Five enabling factors make digital ride-hailing possible, the internet, smartphone, broadband wireless network, digital map and global positioning system. The authors found that performance expectancy, social influence and habit positively influence customers to accept ride-hailing in Indonesia. Research limitations/implications Although this research has a small sample, it is still relevant to understand people’s acceptance to the ride-hailing platform. As a ride-hailing platform is now transformed to a multisided markets platform, adoption studies or other studies on each market to cover the whole picture of the platform influence to the society, and its contribution to the national economy will be very interesting. The authors’ future research will cover various services covered by ride-hailing companies. Originality/value This study proposes and argues that four main enabling factors make digital ride-hailing a viable business. The study contributes to three significant factors that influence the acceptance of ride-hailing in Indonesia.