Shared parking acceptance under perceived network externality and risks: Theory and evidence

Despite the increasing interest in shared parking, little attention has been devoted to its perceptions and acceptance among drivers. To fill such a gap, this paper develops a novel theoretical framework in which perceived network externality, cost risk, safety risk, and management pressure are incorporated into the Combined Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior (C-TAM-TPB). This paper merely focuses on positive network externality. First, a mathematical model is proposed to verify some of the hypotheses. The analytical results show that both a driver's utility and the shared parking platform's equilibrium demand are increasing in the effect of network externality and decreasing in the effect of risks. Second, a structural equation modeling approach with the partial least squares algorithm is employed for parameter estimation and model assessment. We conducted a quantitative study with 321 usable responses. The empirical results show that, except for management pressure, all the other constructs measured in the study had a significant total effect on user attitude and use intention towards shared parking. The corresponding amount of variance in attitude and use intention explained by our research model was 68.4% and 72.6%, respectively. Our findings shall provide useful insights into the better implementation of shared parking applications from managerial, technological, and operational perspectives.