Trust in Online Ride-Sharing Transactions: Impacts of Heterogeneous Order Features

With the development of the sharing economy, online ride-sharing has become a primary form of commuting. Using secondary transaction data, this study investigates the associations between the heterogeneous features and mutual trust in sharing economy-driven online ride-sharing transactions. Based on an examination of 12,404 ride-sharing orders in Beijing, we propose a set of trust distribution maps using order location data to reveal heterogeneous spatial patterns of the relationship between online ride-sharing transactions and mutual trust. The results show that the historical order completion rate and order distance are positively associated with mutual trust in ride-sharing transactions, whereas order time and departure density negatively and significantly influence mutual trust. Furthermore, we use machine learning algorithms to predict trust. The implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.