MASTER THESIS PROVIDES NEW INSIGHTS INTO BOOKING DECISIONS AT RIDESHARING PLATFORMS

How important are trust-enhancing cues for users’ booking decision on car-sharing platforms such as BlaBlaCar? In order to counteract the lack of trust and scepticism towards strangers in real life, many platforms have already introduced visual cues such as user ratings, verified identities or user profile images. However, while the trust-enhancing cues have already proven to be an effective tool in the area of e-commerce, their role in the context of the sharing economy is still unclear.

Philipp Littmann (Master student BWL, University of Potsdam) got to the bottom of this question in his master thesis through a collaboration with eye square.

The attention of 32 study participants was examined by via eye tracking. In addition to eye tracking, respondents were asked to complete a survey. The results of the study indicate that price, travel details and visual information about the driver are the most important factors for the booking decision. Driver ratings and driver identity verification played a special role. In contrast, co-traveler information was rather irrelevant for platform users.

We congratulate Philipp on his very successful scientific work and wish him all the best for the future!