Implementing smartphone enabled collaborative travel: Routes to success in the tourism domain

Dickinson, JE; Hibbert, JF; Filimonau, V; Cherrett, T; Davies, N; Norgate, SH; Speed, C; Winstanley, C

Abstract

Smartphone technology can help identify current and anticipate future patterns of behaviour and, with its social networking capabilities, allow users to imagine and organise collaborative travel opportunities, such as lift share. This has led to the development of collaborative apps designed to enable activities like lift sharing. Such apps require new norms of behaviour to establish a user base and research has yet to address the socio-cultural barriers to both the use of this technology to organise travel and the sharing of personal space that collaborative travel entails. This paper reports the findings of a study which designed, built and tested a collaborative travel app in the tourism domain. Data derived from exploratory interviews, post-trial interviews and a questionnaire reveal that user age and extent of mobile engagement play a less significant role than expected, while other aspects of the social exchange, notably social tie strength, trust and obligations play a more marked role. A conceptual framework and discussion of strategies to address these barriers provides insight into appropriate contexts and routes for implementation of collaborative travel apps.

Citation

Dickinson, J., Hibbert, J., Filimonau, V., Cherrett, T., Davies, N., Norgate, S., …Winstanley, C. (2017). Implementing smartphone enabled collaborative travel: Routes to success in the tourism domain. Journal of Transport Geography, 59, 100-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.01.011

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 10, 2017
• Publication Date: Feb 10, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 14, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Transport Geography
• Print ISSN: 0966-6923
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-1236
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 59
• Pages: 100-110
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.01.011
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.01.011
• Related Public URLs: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography/
• Additional Information: Funders : Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Projects : Sixth Sense Transport; Grant Number: EP/J004650/1