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The Limits of Money in Daily Ridesharing: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural France

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  • Dianzhuo Zhu

Abstract

Ridesharing, as part of the sharing economy, is a rapidly growing sector and has the potential to solve major environmental and societal challenges related to daily transportation. The main obstacle in expanding ridesharing is motivating drivers and passengers to participate. We conducted a field experiment, in collaboration with a French ridesharing provider, to investigate whether extrinsic monetary incentives have motivation crowding effects for drivers in a real time ridesharing service. For each passenger rideshare request, we randomly assigned 3 euros or 7 euros as the compensation amount to drivers. This amount was shown simultaneously with the ridesharing request, so when the drivers saw the rideshare requests whilst driving, they could decide in real time whether or not to stop to pick up the passengers. After the trip has been completed, the drivers could choose to redeem their gains, and if they did so, we would invite them to a dictator game in which they were able to split their gains between themselves and a charity. The results from 128 rideshares during the northern summer 2017 show that the drivers? redemption and money split decisions are similar for the 3 euros and 7 euros groups, indicating that there are similar motivation profiles in both groups. Thus, increasing the monetary incentive levels has neither crowding-out nor crowding-in effects. Our results offer crucial policy insights to ridesharing providers. Instead of solely deploying monetary incentives to increase user participation, they could be better served, without having to resort to increased budget outlays, by considering non-monetary incentives which trigger the intrinsic pro-social motivations of the users of a rural ridesharing service. JEL classification: C93, D91, R41.

Suggested Citation

  • Dianzhuo Zhu, 2021. "The Limits of Money in Daily Ridesharing: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural France," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 161-202.
  • Handle: RePEc:cai:reidbu:rei_173_0161
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    1. Yeung, Timothy Yu-Cheong & Zhu, Dianzhuo, 2022. "Intercity ridesharing to the rescue: Capacity flexibility and price stability of BlaBlaCar during the 2018 French railway strike," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 270-290.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ridesharing; motivation crowding theory; field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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