ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1551522
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Empathy in Behavioral Change Toward Ethical Consumption and Environmental SustainabilityView all 8 articles
Analysis of technology acceptance and planned behavior of using shared E-Biked to support the sustainable transportation development goal in smart cities
Provisionally accepted
Sheng-Ming Wang1
ZiHan Xu2*- 1National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taipei County, Taiwan
- 2College of Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
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This study offers a thorough investigation into shared electric bicycles (E-bikes) and their role as a key element in advancing sustainable transportation within smart cities. Previous studies have predominantly employed the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) or the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate user acceptance, yet few have integrated both frameworks to explore how environmental objectives-such as net-zero emissions (NZE)-influence behavioral intention in smart cities. To address this limitation, the present study incorporates key variables including subjective norms (SN), perceived usefulness (PU), user attitudes (ATU), and perceived behavioral control (PBC), while introducing NZE as a factor in user behavior analysis. Data were collected from 298 urban residents aged 18 -54 via an online questionnaire.Structural equation modeling analysis showed that SN significantly predicted PU, which confirm the strong influence of social factors on user perceptions. PU stands as a mediating variable, and it significantly influenced users' ATU and NZE, which reflected that users highly value the convenience and environmental benefits of shared e-bikes. In addition, PU is a key factor in users' understanding and adoption of NZE, demonstrating that a well-designed shared e-bike system can enhance environmental sensitivity and awareness of green behavior. Furthermore, NZE exerted a significant positive impact on PBC, indicating that greater environmental awareness enhances users' sense of behavioral control, thereby actively motivating them to opt for shared e-bikes. These findings provides empirical evidence and strategic directions for policymakers and urban planners: by strengthening social advocacy, optimizing system usefulness design, and guiding environmental awareness through green policies, cities can more effectively encourage the adoption of shared electric bicycles in smart urban environments.
Keywords: Shared e-bikes, Net zero emissions, structural equation model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Smart city
Received: 25 Dec 2024; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: ZiHan Xu, College of Design, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
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