Attitude and intention to use carsharing in Portugal: users and non-users

• Autor(a) principal: Rosa, Rita Martinho
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/17881
• topic: Carsharing; Shared mobility; Transports; Attitude; Intention; Marketing; Mobilidade; Automóvel; Modelo de transporte; Redução de custos; Comportamento do consumidor

Carsharing is a service that allows the rental of a car to the minute, providing more flexibility to the user. This service appeared in 1948 in Switzerland but it has been growing due to the awareness of Shared Mobility. Carsharing concept has been approached by several researchers. However, there is not so much literature about Portuguese market. The impacts of carsharing are known to be the reduction of C02 emissions since it contributes to the reduction of the number of cars parked and in circulation in the big cities (1), the inclusion of all fixed costs in the final price, as the user only pays the miles he drives (2) and the flexibility carsharing gives the users to move around in the city (3). This study’s goal is to understand the Portuguese perception of carsharing use, taking into account benefits such as convenience, environmental impact and costs considerations. It is also crucial to understand the level of service knowledge among Portuguese people, since this factor can influence the perception and a possible intention to use it. It turns out that most of the Portuguese know what carsharing is but do not know very well how it works. In general, the Portuguese people, whether users or non-users, do not see carsharing as a cheap service, but consider the service convenient. As far as environmental impact is concerned, attitudes differ. Users have a positive attitude regarding carsharing impact on the environment, while non-users have a negative attitude. This perception impacts on the attitude of users and non-users. While the former has a positive attitude towards the use of carsharing, the same cannot be concluded from the latter. Most users intend to continue to use carsharing, unlike most non-users who do not want to try the service.