Promoting customer advocacy in the ride-hailing sector: A generational cohort perspective

Abstract

The days of the sharing economy being considered a niche market have long passed, as the sharing economy has become a profitable and budding market, attracting large investments and a multitude of customers (Möhlmann 2015:193). Since their rapid growth in popularity following the 2008 financial crisis (Kuswanto et al. 2020:76), the sharing economy and platform business models have become part of many consumers’ daily existence in terms of accommodation-, entertainmentand transportation-related services (Lee et al. 2018:829; Wang et al. 2022:197). Of particular interest to this study are Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) and their ridehailing platform business models. Typically, TNCs use smartphone application platforms to link drivers and customers requiring ride-hailing services. Drivers (fellow community members) cooperating with TNCs transfer customers (service recipients), using their own cars, receive payment by card or in cash, as is the case in some developing countries (Wadud 2020).