Trust in the Ride Hailing Service of the Sharing Economy

Abstract

This paper examines the factors that influence customers’ trust in the ride hailing service (RHS). RHS faces legal, social, and safety concerns making trust critical in using RHS. Drawing on legitimacy and uncertainty reduction theories, we propose a theoretical framework of the antecedents of trust. We develop a survey instrument and collect data to empirically test the research model. The results reveal an association between the legitimacy of the service and customers’ trust in the service. Nonetheless, the different types of legitimacy vary in their effect on trust levels. We further show that process transparency positively affects trust in RHS. We discuss our findings and offer valuable theoretical and practical implications to the growing literature on trust in the sharing economy.