To own or share e-scooters? Factors in ownership and sharing of e-scooters

This paper aims to determine how consumer innovativeness, susceptibility to interpersonal influence, personal norms, and innovation attribute perceptions affect the consumer decision to use, share, and own an e-scooter. The decision to use encompasses traveling using an e-scooter, sharing means using an e-scooter on a demand basis, and owning means buying an e-scooter for personal use. Consequently, this paper contributes to understanding novel mobility modes that aim to decrease the environmental problems in transport. It also develops knowledge about green innovations that could be perceived as causing more environmental problems than their traditional counterparts. A survey was conducted in Sweden with 1002 participants, who were non-users, owners, and sharers of e-scooters. Structural equation modelling showed that susceptibility to interpersonal influence and perceived safety attributes of e-scooters consistently positively influence decisions to use and own. This paper increases the understanding of factors influencing e-scooter use, sharing, and ownership, which is valuable for e-scooter businesses and service providers, transport agencies, and policy-makers.