The socio-technical dimensions of shared mobility innovations: the case of digital ridesharing platforms in Southeast Asia

Thesis

Digital ridesharing platform (“ridesharing”) innovations constitute a new socio-technical system in urban mobility, whereby people and institutions interact with technology in ways that reshape how people travel and relate to one another. Through three interdisciplinary, multi-method studies, I explore how the rapid adoption of ridesharing in Southeast Asia engendered social norms, moral codes of conduct, and trust when innovations introduced by startups like Grab and Uber induced strangers to interact in the confined space of a shared ride. The first study analyses the case of how ridesharing scaled rapidly from 2012 to 2022 in Southeast Asia using the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework and found that entrant competition between ridesharing startups, fueled by venture capital, accelerated a transition towards ridesharing in under a decade. This finding contributes to the socio-technical transitions literature in transport geography. The second study examines social norms and moral codes in ridesharing in Singapore and Manila through 65 qualitative interviews of drivers and passengers. Interactions between drivers and passengers were shaped by pre-existing prejudices and privacy concerns, reflecting broader societal dynamics, contributing an understanding of urban encounters between strangers in shared rides to urban studies and transport geography. The third study surveyed 553 passengers to understand the role of user trust in the usage and satisfaction of pooled ridesharing services. It extends the Technology Acceptance Model from information systems research by showing that different types of trust—interpersonal and institutional—significantly influence the decision to use ridesharing. Ultimately, this thesis shows how the socio-technical dimensions of ridesharing innovations shape and are shaped by how ridesharing users and companies should behave and relate to and trust one another.

Authors: Teng, N

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-nzq85aqpr
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: ridesharing platforms; trust; Southeast Asia
• Subjects: Transportation geography