Applying the Technology Acceptance Model to Understand China’s Sharing Economy Among the Young

With the opportunities and challenges posed by the sharing economy, this chapter explores participation in the sharing economy by investigating the case of DiDi Chuxing, the Uber-like online on-demand ride service and China’s largest app-based ride-sourcing platform. The technology acceptance model is utilized and extended to understand young Chinese users’ motives for providing and consuming ride-sourcing through social media such as WeChat groups for users or potential users. This exploratory study adopts focus group interviews and online surveys as research methods for data collection. A total of 951 respondents under 35 participated in the online survey. In the questionnaire, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived resource scarcity, perceived risks, attitude, and behavioral intention were assessed based on existing scales and findings of focus groups. Moreover, the questionnaire included questions for consumers/passengers and providers/drivers. The findings of this study show that DiDi ride-sourcing has changed how people think about possessing and accessing resources or services. The results indicated that DiDi users perceive ride-sourcing as useful regarding social experience, modern lifestyle, ecological sustainability, the effectiveness of feedback mechanisms, economic benefits, and so on. At the same time, they also realize performance, privacy, and financial and time risks as perceived risks of ride-sourcing. More discussions and implications are provided to help researchers, practitioners, and business operators better understand the impact of social media on young Chinese people’s attitudes toward the sharing economy and their use intention. Limitations and implications are also discussed.