What limits improper bike-sharing parking most: Penalties or incentives? Findings from an online behavioral experiment

Abstract

Electronic fences are now used to regulate the parking behavior of bike-sharing users, but the issue of improper parking within such fenced areas has not been resolved. Based on the theories of perceived value and perceived risk, this study used online behavioral experiments to simulate a scenario of users parking shared bicycles. By considering three factors — economic incentives, punitive measures, and travel scenarios — this study examined variations in users’ willingness to standardize the parking of shared bicycles. Data from 809 valid questionnaires were collected and empirically analyzed using bootstrap and regression analyses. According to the results, both economic incentives and penalties significantly enhanced users’ willingness to standardize the parking of shared bicycles, and the impact of penalties was slightly stronger than that of incentives. Perceived value played a mediating role between economic incentives and users’ willingness to properly park shared bicycles. Perceived risk acted as a mediator between punitive measures and the regulated parking intention of users. Travel scenarios served as a moderating factor between penalties and users’ willingness to park shared bicycles in a compliant manner, with the users’ compliance willingness in non-commuting travel scenarios significantly surpassing that in commuting contexts. These findings enrich the knowledge of sustainable usage behaviors among bike-sharing users, providing insights for bike-sharing companies to manage user behavior. Based on these results, several policy recommendations aimed at guiding governments and companies in regulating electronic fences and user parking behaviors are proposed.