Customer Decision-Making Factors for Taxi Booking Apps: A Comparative Analysis of Uber, Careem, and Bolt in Qassim City, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aims to identify the factors influencing consumers' choice of three taxi booking mobile applications in Qassim: Uber, Careem, and Bolt. The suggested independent factors are marketing mix, mobile applications, and customer behavior. Moreover, the research is based on the survey methodology to study the relationship between these variables and customer choice of applications. An online questionnaire is used to collect the data. The sample study consisted of 419 users of three taxi applications (Uber, Careem, and Bolt). Additionally, frequency was used to describe the study samples and apply the appropriate statistical tests to the research hypotheses. The results of the study show that there is a statistically significant relationship between offered service, cash payment methods, car cleanliness, car model, customer service presence, customer income level, and influential social networks and customer choice for one of the available applications for booking a taxi. As well, it indicates a high rate of Bolt application users, which is considered a local application compared to its competitors in the market (Uber and Careem). Accordingly, the recommendations were written about the importance of focusing on the factors related to consumers' choice of applications.