Why do parents intend to permit their children to ride e-bikes? Empirical evidence from Vietnam

Arriving at older adolescence coincides with the increasing use of motorized modes, particularly e-bikes in lowand middle-income countries. However, little is known about the determinants of adolescents' use of e-bikes. This study aims to explore factors influencing parents' intention to permit their children to use an e-bike using a conceptual framework adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Risk Theory (RT). The role of parents is focused in this study since parents are the prime determinant of how children travel. Data collected from 400 adolescents at the age between 16 and 18 years old in Vietnam are utilized to test the proposed framework empirically. The findings show that perceived usefulness, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have direct positive effects on parental permission intention, while the indirect impact of perceived ease of use is confirmed. Perceived risk, which is contributed by the perceptions of crash, functional, and financial risks, negatively affects the intention. Surprisingly, perceived risk is a more significant barrier to the permission intention for parents of a male adolescent compared to those of a female one. Besides adolescents' gender, monthly household income and living area are found to exhibit moderating effects of antecedents on parental permission intention. On the basis of the findings of associated factors, managerial implications are suggested.