Passengers' self-protective intentions while using ride-hailing services during the COVID-19 pandemic

Duy Quy Nguyen-Phuoc; Diep Ngoc Su; My Thanh Tran Dinh; James David Albert Newton; Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105920

Passengers' self-protective intentions while using ride-hailing services during the COVID-19 pandemic

Saf Sci. 2023 Jan:157:105920. doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105920. Epub 2022 Sep 6.

Authors

Duy Quy Nguyen-Phuoc¹, Diep Ngoc Su^{2

3}, My Thanh Tran Dinh², James David Albert Newton⁴, Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Road and Bridge Engineering, The University of Danang - University of Science and Technology, 54 Nguyen Luong Bang Street, Lien Chieu District, Danang City, Viet Nam.
² The University of Danang - University of Economics, 71 Ngu Hanh Son, Danang City, Viet Nam.
³ The University of Danang - Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 41 Le Duan, Danang City, Viet Nam.
⁴ The School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
⁵ Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), Faculty of Health, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia.
⁶ Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Science and Engineering Faculty, 2 George St., S Block, Room 701, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.

Abstract

In the transport context, there has been limited research examining passengers' health-protective behaviour while travelling during a health-related crisis such as COVID-19. This study develops a conceptual model aiming to explore determinants associated with passengers' self-protective intentions using the context of ride-hailing services in Vietnam. Ride-hailing services are popular in countries where public transport is underdeveloped. The conceptual model is based on perceived risk and self-efficacy as the main predictor of self-protective intentions when using ride-hailing services. In addition, the proposed conceptual model explores the direct and indirect impact of subjective knowledge and the perceived effectiveness of preventive measures on self-protective intentions. The proposed conceptual model was tested on a large sample of ride-hailing users in Vietnam (n = 527). The structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis results indicate that self-efficacy has the highest total impact on self-protective behaviour, followed by subject knowledge and perceived effectiveness of preventive measures. Self-efficacy also plays a fully mediating role in the linkage between the perceived effectiveness of preventive measures implemented by ride-hailing organisations and the intention to engage in self-protective behaviour. The results of this study expand the current understanding of ride-hailing passengers' health-protective behaviour and contribute to the transport and public health literature.

Keywords: Human factors; Perceived risk; Public transport; Ride-hailing; Safety science; Self-efficacy; Subject knowledge.