Moving Towards Sustainable Means Of Transportation: Examining The Factors Leading To Consumer Intention To Adopt Electric Two-Wheelers In Vietnam

Abstract

The primary mode of transportation in Vietnam is gasoline-powered motorcycles, which is appropriate for the socioeconomic environment, the available transportation infrastructure, and consumption habits. This explains why personal gasoline-powered motorbike ownership has still never stopped rapidly increasing. However, due to the negative effects of a large number and high density of motorcycles in urban areas, such as traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution that cause stressful experiences for traffic participants, the public's perception of the use of private vehicles, particularly motorcycles, has gradually changed. Electric Two-Wheelers are now an optimal alternative option because of its stand-out ability to significantly reduce the unfortunate consequences of gasoline powered motorbikes. This research aims to in-depth examine the Vietnam consumers’ purchase intention and willingness to change to Electric bicycles, scooters, or motorbikes. In doing so, this study will assist manufacturing firms, and managers in understanding how to persuade customers to shift toward conventional internal combustion engine transportation to EVs and there is a foundation to influence the government to support this emerging industry. To clarify the study's objectives, theoretical models have been used to develop this thesis model called Stimulus - Organism - Response (SOR). The quantitative method was applied to develop the questionnaire survey. The population of this study is the traffic participants 18 years old who live in 3 main areas (urban, sub-urban of 3 big cities: Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang city, Ha Noi city from; and neighboring rural areas). According to 270 respondents, the theoretical model was analyzed by PLS-SEM. The result showed that the E2Ws driving experience has a positive impact on consumer adoption through intermediate variables ranging from strong to weak, namely Subjective Norm, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Relative Advantage, and the last one is Perceived Risk. Finally, recommendations are made to promote the development of electric two-wheel vehicles from government, enterprise, and consumer perspectives.