Factors influencing users’ subjective well-being: an empirical study based on shared bicycles in China
| Date | 20 November 2017 |
| Pages | 202-211 |
| Published date | 20 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IDD-03-2017-0022 |
| Author | Xin Zhang,Liang Ma,Gao Shan Wang |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Library & information services,Lending,Document delivery,Collection building & management,Stock revision,Consortia |
Factors influencing users’ subjective
well-being: an empirical study based on
shared bicycles in China
Xin Zhang, Liang Ma and Gao Shan Wang
Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China
Abstract
Purpose – Bike sharing becomes suddenly hot up in China since the end of 2016. However, few studies have focused on shared bicycle users’
behavior. To fill this research gap, this paper aims to develop an integrated model to investigate factors that affect shared bicycle users’ subjective
well-being.
Design/methodology/approach – A field survey with 220 shared bicycle users is conducted to test the research model and hypotheses.
Findings – The highlights are that perceived value has positive effect on users’ life satisfaction. Specially, it is interesting to find that hedonic value
has the greatest impact on users’ life satisfaction, followed by social value and utilitarian value. Perceived risks which including privacy risks, financial
risks and functional risks act as a moderating role between perceived value and users’ life satisfaction.
Originality/value – First, the authors clear factors that affect users’ subjective well-being from the perspective of perceived value. The results
deepen our understanding about the effect of perceived value on users’ subjective well-being. Second, the current researches have ignored the effect
of perceived risks on users’ subjective well-being. The authors filled that gap and found that perceived risks which including privacy risks, financial
risks and functional risks act as a moderating role between perceived value and users’ subjective well-being.
Keywords Subjective well-being, Perceived risks, Social value, Hedonic value, Shared bicycles, Utilitarian value
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
With the development of smartphones and the availability of
mobile internet, the use of the shared bicycle applications
(apps) has attracted scholarly and industry attention in recent
years in China. Since the end of 2016, shared bicycles have
become incredibly popular in China. According to a 2016
Chinese bicycle market share report, the total user number of
shared bicycles reached 18,860,000 by the end of that year,
and the shared bicycle market will continue to maintain a
substantial increase in the number of users, reaching an
expected 50 million users by the end of 2017. Shared bike
brands including Mobike, ofo and at least 25 others, many of
which are new to the market. Mobike and ofo occupy the
largest proportion of the Chinese shared bicycle market: ofo
has 800,000 shared bikes with a market share of 51.2 per cent;
Mobike has 600,000 shared bikes and a market share of 40.1
per cent. Increasing numbers of people are using shared
bicycles, which provide a service to university campuses,
subway stations, bus stations, residential areas, commercial
areas and public service areas; they are therefore a great
convenience in people’s daily lives.
A review of previous studies shows that literature on shared
bicycle users’ behavior is rather limited. Among these studies,
only Campbell et al. (2016) studied shared bicycle users’
behavior based on a study based in Beijing; they found that
bike share demand is strongly negatively impacted by trip
distance, temperature, precipitation, and poor air quality.
Research on shared bicycle users’ subjective well-being,
however, is rare, leaving many questions unanswered. During
the process of bike riding, for example, users will perceive
value, such as utilitarian value and hedonic value: With the
increase of perceived value, will users’ subjective well-being
rise? Currently, the answer is unclear. Furthermore, in
contrast to other comparable schemes, when users want to
ride a shared bike, they need to download the app, register a
bank card, pay a deposit and disclose their location. In
addition, one’s riding is also likely to be affected by factors
such as the condition of the bicycle, and the weather. Users
face many risks, such as financial, functional and privacy. The
presence of shared bicycle has deeply changed people’s life
style, thus may change their attitude and judgment about life.
It is essential for shared bicycle company to optimize its
marketing strategy, and understand the risks and value
perception of users to use shared bicycle is therefore
important. Thus, the following research questions will be
addressed:
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2398-6247.htm
Information Discovery and Delivery
45/4 (2017) 202–211
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2398-6247]
[DOI 10.1108/IDD-03-2017-0022]
This work is supported by National Social Science Foundation of China
under project number 16AJY003. The authors also would like to express
appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on
improving the paper.
Received 24 March 2017
Revised 6 September 2017
Accepted 24 September 2017
202
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