COVID-19 impact on shared mobility services and the way forward: Perspectives from eight African countries

COVID-19 adversely affected all walks of life in Africa, but there is little evidence of how it has impacted shared mobility services. Empirical investigations from multiple countries will help understand the impacts on travel behavior intentions for planning more resilient shared mobility services. This study investigated the critical factors underpinning shared mobility service delivery in eight African countries: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Senegal. An online survey of 8560 commuters was used for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and logistic regression within a multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) framework. Results showed that age, gender, car ownership, household size, employment, travel reasons, and teleactivities moderate shared mobility adoption in pandemics. Perceived service quality (PSQ) and expectation have significant positive direct (indirect) effects on user satisfaction and loyalty. Customer satisfaction has a significant positive impact on travel behavioral intentions. Also, customer satisfaction and loyalty jointly mediate relationships between PSQ and behavioral intentions. However, travel frequency negatively influences expectation, PSQ, and behavioral choices via customer loyalty. Interestingly, information communication technology has a partially positive impact on PSQ but not on customer loyalty. Importance-performance map analysis indicated that service-provider-customer interventions must boost users' loyalty, subsequently expectations, and PSQ. This study contributes country-by-country policy implications and offers suggestions for strengthening shared mobility services in Africa post-pandemic.