Sharing economy in the context of shared mobility: exploring user attitudes and digital platform preferences in Croatia

The sharing economy is a very dynamic research area in different research contexts. It enables consumers to better manage their time, resources, budgets and experiences. In general, the sharing economy, with the help of ICT technology, enables greater efficiency of available resources and opens up new possibilities for solving some social, economic and environmental problems. In the transport sector, shared mobility has become increasingly important in the last decade, especially in the context of addressing the problems of sustainability and efficiency of the transport system resulting from excessive motorization and the way passenger cars are used. This paper examines the sharing economy in the context of the transportation sector, specifically shared mobility as an economic, transportation, and environmental phenomenon. The empirical part of this paper presents the results of a survey conducted with a sample of 172 respondents in the Republic of Croatia. Of the 172 completed questionnaires, 68 respondents (39.5%) use ridesharing services, while 104 (60.5%) do not. At the same time, 65% of these respondents also do not plan to use them in the future. The main motive cited for using ridesharing was financial. Users expressed a preference for using specialized digital platforms because of their functionality, with the ability to rate drivers and passengers standing out.The aim of this paper is to further clarify the specific motivating factors that encourage users to use mobility sharing services in order to provide guidelines for designing targeted policies to promote and raise awareness of the benefits and importance of these services for individual users, but also for the broader socio-economic and environmental context.