Use intention of mobility-management travel apps: The role of users goals, technophile attitude and community trust

In recent years, persuasive interventions delivered through mobility-management tools have received attention as a means to motivate change for sustainable urban mobility. This paper aims to pinpoint and understand the drivers that influence individuals’ travel decisions when using travel apps including both travel information and persuasive features. The analytical framework relies on Lindenberg's goal-framing theory in which individuals’ motives for using travel apps are grouped into three overarching goals, namely (1) gain, (2) hedonic and (3) normative goal-frames. Furthermore, technophile attitude, community trust and place attachment are incorporated into the framework in order to better explain user-sided heterogeneity. The case-study focuses on the travel information system under development in Copenhagen (Denmark). It questions 822 Danish travelers by distributing a technology-use preference survey. Structural equation models revealed that the choice motivators are specific to individual users and depend on wide ranging factors that go beyond traditional economic and socio-demographic methods. The study reveals: (i) trip efficiency improvement, enjoyment, social interaction and environmentally-friendly travel promotion are important motives for using the new app; (ii) individuals have different intentions according to the perceived value of the new information system as well as travel purposes; (iii) technophile attitude exerts a positive influence on both user motives and use intention; (iv) social and institutional trust in addition to an affective bond to the city influence the use intention of the travel app.