Factors Affecting the Adoption of New Technologies: The Case of a New Sharing Economy Application in the Transport Sector of Thessaloniki

Societies today invest in transport sustainability by developing and promoting smarter and greener transport solutions through targeted strategies. Among these solutions, sharing economy applications are increasingly gaining ground. In Greece, however, the use of such applications is still at a very early stage of adoption. Under this light, the present study aims to investigate citizens’ predisposition towards the adoption of a sharing economy application in light of the development of a new transport solution in the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. For the purposes of the study, a questionnaire survey was developed investigating current trip patterns and characteristics of the respondents, opportunities and barriers for adopting the new sharing system as well as a stated preference experiment. Discrete choice analysis was performed, and a model was developed describing the determining factors for the integration of a sharing economy concept in the existing transport system amongst the population. The results of this study aim to contribute to the identification of the target market as well as the maximization of the benefits for the users. Furthermore, the results of the study are expected to be useful for the design of appropriate promotion campaigns for the new transport sharing application, providing citizens/users of Thessaloniki with an opportunity for a quicker, less stressful way to arrive to their destinations, as opposed to the services currently provided (e.g. intra city buses).