What most influences consumers’ intention to use? Different motivation and trust stories for uber, airbnb, and taskrabbit

While many factors drive the sharing economy’s growth, trust and motivations play critical roles. However, which factors are more important to young consumers? This research compares a trust model with a motivation model for predicting intention to use Airbnb, Uber, and TaskRabbit, comparing within each platform, not between them. The study uses a survey sample of Midwest United States business undergraduates (nearly all Generation Z). Each sample varies in experience levels: relatively high experience Uber respondents, very low experience TaskRabbit respondents, and medium experience for Airbnb. Results show that within Uber, the trust model predicts significantly better than the motivation model. Within Airbnb and TaskRabbit, the motivation model predicts only slightly better. By combining the trust and motivation variables into one model by platform, we find differing degrees of complementarity between the trust and motivation variables, with those for Airbnb being the most complementary in terms of predictive power and those for Uber being the least complementary. Within Airbnb and TaskRabbit, combining the trust and motivation models shows the two most significant variables were enjoyment and trusting intention. Within Uber, trusting intention and trusting beliefs in the provider were the most significant. We provide implications and directions for future research.