International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) – eISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v16i07.27055 Malik Khlaif Gharaibeh1, Natheer Khlaif Gharaibeh2(*) 1Business School, Ajloun National University, Ajloun, Jordan 2College of Computer Science & Engineering at Yanbu, Taibah University, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia ngharaybih@taibahu.edu.sa Abstract—This study aims at constructing a theoretical model to discover the main drivers on the user’s continuance intention (UCI) to use the Careem appli- cation in Jordan. This study also focuses on exploring new factors appropriate to the Jordanian environment that can shape people’s behavior towards adopting this smart service. Partial least square was performed to test the research model using 500 valid surveys. All constructs in this study were significant and accounted for 47.1% of the variance of continuance intention to use the Careem applica- tion. Careem user experience, E-word of mouth, financial benefits, and perceived platform quality are found strongest predictors toward intention to use at level (0.001). Two predictors were at level (0.01) including perceived enjoyment and perceived innovativeness. The findings also indicate that family confidence and women empowerment are the weakest effects at level (0.05). Some of the impli- cations this study provides for designers and developers of mobile applications and institutions related to transport when providing mobile application services. Keywords—Careem application, family confidence and women empowerment, user experience, E-word of mouth, Jordan 1 Introduction Many countries, especially developing countries are facing economic problems due to globalization and the concentration of industries in large cities or capitals. In order to overcome these problems, there is an urgent need to improve urban transport to enhance economic growth and reduce poverty. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce reli- ance on traditional methods when doing business in the transport sector [1]. This matter has become easy to implement in the age of the Internet and with the recent advent of digitalization [2, 3]. One of the most important advantages of digitization is a quick response to changes, based on people’s needs [4]. Digitization works to compare the resources owned by the units for the general benefit of society, based on that, establish- ing a shared and sustainable economic system in which everyone participates in sharing private assets [5]. Sharing private assets plus assisting technology enables untapped resources to be brought into mobilization [6]. Thus, achieving the maximum produc- tion, despite these limited assets. Smart service systems are considered a vital and iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 137 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v16i07.27055 mailto:ngharaybih@taibahu.edu.sa Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application interesting field where information and communication technology, service offerings, and participants interact with each other to form an ecosystem to provide creativity or innovation [7, 8]. The emergence of Careem application in the transportation sector is threatening the existence of traditional businesses such as taxis and public buses. Smart applications also negatively affect other traditional business sectors such as Airbnb in the hotel industry [9]. The Careem app is an example of the interactive process that takes place between passengers, drivers and information technology to serve people as well as to construct a “smart service experience” [10]. Careem mobile app provides an online network for people to share rides by connect- ing drivers and riders [11]. The advantage of these smart applications is that the driver locates the rider and moves to the desired destination through the shortest ride path, after which the cost is calculated depending on the time and distance [12]. The appli- cation of Careem is active in 14 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, where its service is spread in more than 120 cities. The latest statistics showed that the number of Careem drivers has reached one million and that 30 million users are using this application [13]. In Jordan, Careem operates in the three largest cities of Amman, Zarqa and Irbid, as well as transportation to and from Queen Alia International Airport [14]. In March 2019, Careem was bought by its competitor Uber in a deal worth $3.1 billion to control the passenger service in the Middle East after long negotiations that spanned months, while Careem maintained the brand and the application [15]. This study focuses on exploring new factors appropriate to the Jordanian environ- ment that can shape people’s behavior towards adopting this smart service. This paper consists of eight sections as follows. The second section summarizes the literature regarding theoretical foundation and hypotheses development. The third section covers the methodology of this study through four subsections. The fourth section presents the results of the hypothesis examination of the study. The fifth section discusses the results and concludes the paper. Section seven provides limitations and future research. Section eight explains theoretical and practical implications. 2 Theoretical foundation and hypotheses development Figure 1 displays the conceptual model for this study. Constructs of this model were selected based on the results and recommendations of many previous studies in this field. For instance, “E-word of mouth” was extracted from [16], authors noted that E- Word-of-Mouth makes a strong impact on brand image. A “continuance intention to use Careem” was used in the study model as an indication of the intention to use Careem and continuity in the future. The current study also selected the factors that are expected to be most influential in a developing and conservative country such as Jordan. For example, “family confidence and women empowerment” were taken from [17], through interviews conducted with Careem users, authors found that the app increases family confidence and increases women’s empowerment in society in Pakistan. This study attempted to build a robust model to measure the adoption of Careem application suitable for the environment in which the study was conducted (Jordan). Therefore, the models that were measured in previous studies such as TAM, UTAUT and IDT were not used in this study because these models were saturated in 138 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application studying this research area [18]. For example, authors [7], extended TAM to study determinants of ride-sharing (Uber) in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Article [19], used UTAUT to predict Passengers’ Uber Adoption in Bangladesh. Article [20], used both IDT and TAM to investigate customer adoption of the Uber in the USA. Fig. 1. Research mode Source: Self developed. 2.1 E-word of mouth The term word of mouth has evolved as the Internet environment has become an important factor for customers to influence them and direct their ideas regarding the consumption experience in a collective and unbiased manner. Therefore, E-word of mouth is a strong influence on the brand image of companies [16]. E-word of mouth plays a significant role typically for the customer through social sites with the prod- uct or service, where the customer can see the opinions of others who used this ser- vice, and therefore the customer makes the decision to use this service or not based on the recommendations and comments of others [21]. Previous studies also found that social sites (E-word of mouth) increase the level of trust through active commu- nication in the product or service [22–24]. Since the Careem application service is fairly new in the Jordanian market, this study finds that the intention to adopt this service is largely determined through E-word of mouth. This study also believes that family confidence and women empowerment is a very important factor in affecting a customer’s decision to use Careem Therefore, based on the above literature, this study hypothesize the following: iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 139 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application H1 There is a significant and positive relationship between E-word of mouth and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. H2 There is a significant and positive relationship between E-Word of mouth and family confidence and women empowerment. 2.2 Family confidence and women empowerment Jordan is an eastern Islamic country that has a collective culture different from the culture of the West. For example, one of the things known to Jordanians is that the man is the breadwinner, while the woman is the housewife, as well as the woman, represents the pride and honor of the family to the man. To put it differently, women in Jordan are not allowed to move around on their own. With the recent emergence of modernity and globalization, many concepts have changed, so women are freer to move around and an increasing number of women are working in the public sphere as well. Nevertheless, public transportation is a big problem. In a country without railway stations, the bus system in Jordan has not been reliable, efficient, and comfortable until recently. Local taxis have always been considered unsafe for women to travel alone, especially young girls, this study attempts to reveal the extent of confidence of customers, especially women, about the intention to use Careem. It is assumed that this service will be more compatible than local taxis or public buses for families in Jordan. In fact, there are several points that make Careem more preferred than other means of transportation, for example, the rider in Careem can evaluate the driver after the trip ends. The driver cannot start any conversation with the passenger unless the passenger allows it. Also, the fare in Careem is fixed, unlike the local taxi driver who may covet a higher fare. Hence, to further investigate this new relationship in the context of Jordan Careem’s passengers, the authors can propose three hypotheses as follows: H3 There is a significant and positive relationship between family confidence and women empowerment and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. H4 There is a significant and positive relationship between family confidence and women empowerment and perceived enjoyment. H5 There is a significant and positive relationship between family confidence and women empowerment and perceived platform quality. 2.3 Perceived enjoyment Perceived enjoyment is defined here to the extent to which participation in the shar- ing economy is perceived as enjoyable in and of itself, regardless of any performance consequences that may be expected [25–27]. Previous studies indicated that enjoy- ment is an important inherent value for participation in the sharing economy [28]. Another example, article [29] indicated that participating in sharing economy services is a pleasure because it allows users to experience a remarkable variety of community interactions and engage in social contacts, in other words, offering customers a variety of options. It means that dealing with traditional companies was much less enjoyable than participating in the sharing economy [30]. Article [31] confirmed this view, they mentioned that Airbnb customers, in general, are using such a service because they 140 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application have a fun and different experience from it. In the Jordanian context, this study expects that there will be a significant and positive effect of perceived enjoyment in motivat- ing customers to continue to use Careem, given that the company’s criteria are in the interest of the passenger, such as that the cars for the service are modern, existence the driver’s evaluation system after the completion of the trip, and the existence of a system that depends on the distance and time to determine the cost. Thus, we hypothesize that: H6 There is a significant and positive relationship between perceived enjoyment and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. 2.4 Perceived innovativeness Perceived innovativeness has been defined by [32] to “the degree to which a per- son tends to adopt new things such as new technologies, products, or services before others”. Perceived innovativeness is a fundamental reason in customers’ willingness in accepting new technologies [33]. Article [34] noted that a higher level of individual creativity increases one’s confidence in adopting new technologies. Article [35] noted that the individuals with a higher degree of personal innovation will have clearer views of the innovative technology and thus increase the percentage of user adoption of these services. Article [36] stated that personal innovation actually affects an individual’s personal perception of new technology: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Including personal characteristics of users in technology acceptance models contributes to compensating for deficiencies in the research on accepting new green technology that focuses only on a technological perspective [37]. They concluded that personal innovativeness is a major feature that affects user acceptance of innovative technology. Article [38] concluded that personal innovativeness positively influences the intention to use ride-sharing services. The authors explained that “ride-sharing services is novel and attractive to consumers with high levels of personal innovativeness”. Accordingly, the current study incorporates personal innovativeness in the proposed model to build a more integrated conceptual model to reveal the factors affecting consumers’ intention to use Careem. Based on these arguments, the following hypotheses is proposed: H7 There is a significant and positive relationship between perceived innovative- ness and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. 2.5 Financial benefits The term financial benefit refers to the perceived costs and the perceived monetary benefits resulting from any technology use [39, 40]. The financial benefit is defined in the context of this study that the customer considers the advantages of using Careem more than the financial costs [41]. Financial benefits have been found in previous stud- ies under term “price value”. In the UTAUT2 model, article [39] suggested that price value significantly contributes substantially to technology usage intention. It was found that the financial benefit positively affects a customer’s intention to use technology in several contexts [42–45]. When a customer buys a service or product, he/she prefers to choose a specific brand over other alternatives based on looking at the financial value iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 141 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application achieved from the product or service [46, 47]. For sure, Careem’s fees are significantly lower compared to alternative taxi services, as well as having an accurate ride cost cal- culation system. Moreover, through personal interviews conducted with several riders who used Careem, they confirmed that there is an increase in rewards and the win- ning rate increases with the increase in experience and rides through the application. They also confirmed that rewards motivate them to continue using this service. Other studies revealed that the perceived value is very important in actual online purchasing decisions in developing countries [48], thus the financial benefit is expected to play a decisive role in adopting Careem’s service in a developing country like Jordan. Based on the previous discussions, this study assumes that: H8 There is a significant and positive relationship between financial benefits and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. 2.6 Perceived platform quality The platform quality is defined in this study as the customer’s evaluation of the Careem platform that meets their requirements, as well as reflects the good impres- sion of the quality of services provided on this platform [49]. Platform quality can be measured through three dimensions that considerably affecting the usage intention and acceptance of any new technology. First, “System quality is defined as the degree to which the system users believe that a system is easy to use, user-friendly, easy to learn, easy to connect to, and enjoyable to use” [50]. Second, “Information quality is defined as the degree to which system users think that online learning information is up-to- date, accurate, relevant, comprehensive, and organized” [51]. Third, “Service quality is referred to through these attributes: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, functionality, interactivity, and empathy” [52]. From the previous definitions of the quality elements, the customer considers the quality issue very important in the context of technology adoption. For example, the presence of accurate, sufficient, and avail- able information on time, and an understandable and easy-to-handle interface, and a quick-response interactive experience that leads to faster use of technology among potential customers [53]. The perceived quality has been linked with the customer’s intention to use technology in several contexts, as many studies have found that per- ceived quality is an important factor in determining the customer’s intention to use the service [54–56]. In the context of ride-sharing, [30] found that perceived platform quality is considered one of the main predictors on passengers’ intention to participate in Uber. Thus, we hypothesize that: H9 There is a significant and positive relationship between perceived platform qual- ity and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. 2.7 Careem user experience In general, app user experience has been defined as “the difficulty that users find to use mobile applications thanks to its design of user experience, in which people perform activities in an automatic way, doing so as a consequence of their learning” [57, 58]. The user experience is defined in this study to the degree of difficulty that passengers 142 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application face in using the Careem application thanks to its design of the user experience, which in turn reflects the extent of the passengers’ ability to use Careem in an automatic way as a result of their previous experience and learning. Previous studies have indicated how important the user experience is in accepting technology, for example [59] con- cluded that the group of younger customers tend to accept the use of mobile phone applications in tourism more than the elderly group, as they found in their study that the application user experience is the most important factor in the proposed study model. This study focuses on young people, as they are the largest group in the community and the most familiar with the use of new technology, as well as the most motivated to use mobile applications. This study is consistent with the results of previous studies, as it is assumed that the experience of a Careem user experience, especially young people, is excited to continue to try this service, so the last hypothesis of this research is: H10 There is a significant and positive relationship between Careem user experi- ence and consumer intention (continuance) to use Careem. 3 Methodology Using convenience sampling, this study applied the questionnaire method in order to examine 10 hypotheses. The questionnaire consists of three parts, the first part offer information to the participants about the objectives of the research, the second part includes three questions related to the personal information of the participants, while the third part contains the measurement elements, which consists of 27 items, these items cover 8 variables. Table 1. shows the items used in this study, as each group of items represents a specific variable. The table also shows the codes for each item. A 5-point scale Likert from 1 “Strongly Disagree” to 5 “Strongly Agree” was utilized to capture the perception of each variable for the questionnaire. The sample of this study consists of 500 passengers who have experience in using Careem within two cities in Jordan; Amman and Irbid. Before participants filling out the questionnaire, a pilot test was performed by three experts to ensure items of research and to iden- tify potential issues. After the pilot test, no major changes were recommended by the experts, knowing that they noticed that the questionnaire took about seven minutes to complete. The questionnaire has been distributed in public places such as gardens, malls, and shopping centers in a period that extended from the beginning of October 2020 to mid-November 2020. Table 1. Items of research model Constructs Items Origin E-Word of mouth 1. I constantly follow specific online media that provide information about Careem service. 2. I often read other rider’s online reviews to know whether Careem makes a good impression on others. 3. I often consult other user’s review to use Careem service. 4. I frequently gather online information before I choose to request an Careem service. [16] (Continued) iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 143 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application Constructs Items Origin Family confidence and women empowerment 1. I have high confidence in the services provided by Careem. 2. My family members have high confidence in the services provided by Careem. 3. For my female family members, I am confident to use Careem rather public transportation or taxis. 4. In general, I am confident in using Careem rather public transport or taxi. Self-developed Perceived enjoyment 1. I find participating in Careem enjoyable. 2. Participating in Careem is pleasant. 3. I have fun of participating in Careem. [17] Perceived innovativeness 1. If I heard about a new thing/technology, I would look for ways to experiment with it. 2. Among my peers, I am usually the first one to try the new thing/ technology. 3. I like to experience a new thing/technology.. [18] Financial benefits 1. I perceive that Careem has a fair pricing policy. 2. Careem provides acceptable value. 3. I can obtain adequate value for my money with Careem. [19] Perceived platform quality 1. The Careem platform enables me to get on to it quickly. 2. The Careem platform makes it easy to get anywhere in the platform. 3. The Careem platform provides me with all the information I need. 4. The information provided by the Careem platform is accurate. [20, 21] Careem user experience 1. The user experience in Careem is important for me. 2. I am addicted to using Careem because I like the design experience. 3. I prefer to ride with Careem that have high quality design experience. [22, 23] Intention to use 1. I intend to use Careem for transportation in future 2. I have a willingness to use Careem car services in future 3. I am likely to use Careem in future [24] The data were analyzed using two tools, SPSS version 25 to get descriptive statis- tics, while Smart PLS version 3.0 has been used by employing both techniques PLS algorithm and bootstrapping to test research hypotheses. 582 responses were collected after completing the questionnaire collection, 42 incomplete answers were deleted and 40 were deleted due to lack of seriousness in filling out the questionnaire, for exam- ple, some respondents whose answer was strongly disagreed with all the question- naire questions, some responses have lack consistency, which resulted in a sample of 500 answers ready for statistical analyzes. Of the 500 respondents, 281 were male and 219 were female. The majority of respondents were young, with 53.6% between the ages of 20–35, and 38.4% between the ages of 36–50. In terms of education level, most of the respondents were in the category of bachelor’s degree with 68.2. Table 1. Items of research model (Continued) 144 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application 4 Results This section discusses the results in terms of normality, the measurement model and the structural model. 4.1 Normality Skewness and kurtosis were calculated for each construct to test univariate normal- ity [25, 26]. Skewness values were within the expected level (less than 3). Kurtosis values also were not higher than 8. It means that the items were normally distributed [27, 28]. Table 2 summarizes the results of the skewness and kurtosis approach. Table 2. Normality test Construct Mean Std. Deviation Skewness Kurtosis E-word of mouth 4.09 0.527 0.011 0.362 Family confidence and women empowerment 4.09 0.569 –0.072 –0.231 Perceived enjoyment 4.11 0.578 –0.010 –0.115 Perceived innovativeness 4.10 0.359 1.352 3.365 Financial benefits 4.18 0.574 –0.019 –0.234 Perceived platform quality 4.13 0.482 0.036 0.550 Careem user experience 4.35 0.495 0.404 –1.343 Continuous intention to use 4.29 0.457 0.886 –1.220 4.2 Measurement model In order to test Common Method Bias (CMB), this research utilized Harman’s single- factor by employing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) [29, 30]. From the results shown in Table 3, it can be concluded that 8 variables loaded highly on its items as well as eigenvalues have been found more than 1 for all variables included in this study. In other words, there was no variable accounting for more variance with another variable, therefore no signs for present problems in CMB. Table 3. Factor loading CUE EWM FB FCWA IU PE PI PPQ CUE1 0.893 0.183 0.166 0.097 0.392 0.153 0.208 0.157 CUE2 0.905 0.164 0.162 0.093 0.439 0.191 0.202 0.208 CUE3 0.877 0.201 0.150 0.106 0.409 0.217 0.202 0.182 EWM1 0.175 0.865 0.172 0.205 0.382 0.219 0.129 0.175 EWM2 0.188 0.891 0.121 0.185 0.419 0.233 0.139 0.211 EWM3 0.205 0.918 0.138 0.177 0.391 0.222 0.160 0.210 EWM4 0.153 0.870 0.150 0.205 0.355 0.199 0.149 0.230 (Continued) iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 145 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application CUE EWM FB FCWA IU PE PI PPQ FB1 0.129 0.138 0.865 0.241 0.273 0.236 0.152 0.183 FB2 0.200 0.166 0.909 0.221 0.351 0.268 0.177 0.180 FB3 0.135 0.127 0.882 0.261 0.287 0.234 0.153 0.161 FCWE1 0.093 0.196 0.244 0.855 0.246 0.128 0.163 0.096 FCWE2 0.155 0.199 0.252 0.886 0.300 0.117 0.195 0.135 FCWE3 0.063 0.171 0.198 0.878 0.230 0.125 0.228 0.138 FCWE4 0.067 0.190 0.243 0.862 0.234 0.152 0.217 0.173 IU1 0.446 0.400 0.319 0.263 0.936 0.365 0.311 0.363 IU2 0.411 0.396 0.339 0.270 0.937 0.362 0.286 0.369 IU3 0.420 0.409 0.296 0.271 0.879 0.309 0.319 0.348 PE1 0.190 0.208 0.225 0.121 0.312 0.880 0.163 0.244 PE2 0.149 0.195 0.238 0.101 0.300 0.880 0.160 0.245 PE3 0.213 0.246 0.273 0.167 0.379 0.899 0.184 0.302 PI1 0.185 0.187 0.135 0.194 0.295 0.180 0.886 0.190 PI2 0.201 0.112 0.159 0.221 0.280 0.170 0.909 0.249 PI3 0.227 0.138 0.194 0.207 0.319 0.167 0.898 0.187 PPQ1 0.191 0.167 0.177 0.099 0.339 0.251 0.215 0.852 PPQ2 0.174 0.253 0.132 0.144 0.348 0.240 0.177 0.882 PPQ3 0.186 0.166 0.195 0.116 0.304 0.232 0.206 0.867 PPQ4 0.167 0.216 0.184 0.177 0.366 0.314 0.207 0.875 As shown in Table 4, 3 kinds of analyzes have been used to test convergent validity; first, Cronbach’s alpha values must be more than 0.7 [31], second, Composite Reli- ability (CR) values must be more than 0.7 [32], third, the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) values must be more than 0.50 [33]. This study found that all values in the previous 3 kinds of analyzes are higher than the recommended value as approved in previous studies. Therefore, it was ascertained that there are no potential problems in convergent validity. Table 4. Reliability analysis Factor a CR AVE EWM 0.909 0.936 0.785 FCWE 0.893 0.926 0.757 PE 0.865 0.917 0.786 PI 0.880 0.926 0.806 FB 0.863 0.916 0.784 PPQ 0.892 0.925 0.755 CUE 0.872 0.921 0.796 IU 0.906 0.941 0.842 Table 3. Factor loading (Continued) 146 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application For testing discriminant validity, it has been found that every single item loads sig- nificantly on its own variable and not significantly on other variables, as well as every variable share high variance with its measures than it shares with other variables. In variance analysis, the square root of every AVE is much higher than any correlation among any pair of latent constructs as presented in Table 5. Discriminant validity, therefore, was achieved herein [34]. Table 5. Correlation analysis CUE 0.892 EWM 0.204 0.886 FB 0.178 0.164 0.886 FCWA 0.110 0.218 0.270 0.870 IU 0.464 0.438 0.347 0.292 0.918 PE 0.210 0.247 0.279 0.150 0.377 0.886 PI 0.228 0.163 0.183 0.231 0.333 0.192 0.898 PPQ 0.206 0.233 0.197 0.156 0.392 0.301 0.231 0.869 Note: “The diagonal (bold) elements are the square roots of AVE values and the off-diagonal elements are the correlations among the constructs”. CUE Careem user experience, EWM E-word of mouth, FB Financial benefits, FCWA Family confidence and women empowerment, IU Intention to use, PE perceived enjoyment, Pi Perceived innovativeness, PPQ Perceived platform quality 4.3 Measurement model Two methods were used in this study which includes PLS algorithm technique to check the research hypotheses as well as bootstrapping to determine the significance level for each construct. The ten hypotheses are in line with what was expected. More specifically, E-word of mouth is significantly affected family confidence and women empowerment (β = 0.218, p < 0.001) and intention to use (β = 0.245, p < 0.001). There- fore, both H1 and H2 were accepted. family confidence and women empowerment has been found significantly and positively influencing on three constructs, perceived enjoyment (β = 0.150, p < 0.01), perceived platform quality (β = 0.156, p < 0.01), and (β = 0.097, p < 0.05). Hence, H3, H4 and H5 were accepted. Perceived enjoyment is successfully associated with intention to use (β = 0.129, p < 0.01). Hence, H6 was accepted. perceived innovativeness is significantly affected intention to use (β = 0.115, p < 0.01), indicating that H7 was accepted. Financial benefits are positively related to intention to use (β = 0.138, p < 0.001). Hence, H8 was accepted. Perceived platform quality are positively related to intention to use (β = 0.188, p < 0.001). Hence, H9 was accepted. Finally, Careem user experience is positively related to intention to use (β = 0.291, p < 0.001). Hence, H10 was accepted. In summary, all predictors in this study were significant and accounted for 47.1% of the variance of continuance intention to use Careem application. iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 147 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application 5 Discussion and conclusion The results show that the E-word of mouth is high influences the intention to con- tinue using Careem (β = 0.245). This can be attributed to the fact that E-word of mouth in Jordan plays an important role mostly through online reviews regarding the use of Careem [35], where the customer can see the opinions of others who have used this service, and therefore the customer makes a decision to use this service or not based on the recommendations and opinions submitted by others [36]. As expected, family confidence and women empowerment positively affected the intention to use, although the effect was not high. This weak effect can be justified by the fact that the effects of globalization and digitization have made families in Jordan more emancipated and thus the role of women is not limited to raising children only, but also in helping the family expenses like men. The results revealed that perceived enjoyment correlates positively with intention to use Careem, Possibly the cause of this relationship is that participating in Careem allows customers to experience social contacts and offering for them a variety of options. In fact, dealing with modern com- panies (e.g. Careem) is considered more enjoyable than participating in the traditional companies [37]. Careem criteria are in the interest of the passenger, such as that the cars for the service are modern, existence the driver’s evaluation system after the comple- tion of the trip, and the existence of a system that depends on the distance and time to determine the cost [38]. Our results indicated that the users’ perceived innovativeness significantly influ- ences the intention to continue using Careem. It is true that Careem services are rela- tively new and thus attractive to consumers with a great degree of personal innovation [39]. Nevertheless, the positive effect of personal innovativeness on the intention to use Careem’s services is not high (β = 0.115). The justification could be that passengers are more influenced by their decision to use Careem’s services based on the convenience and expected benefit of this service rather than their curiosity or desire to experiment with creativity. This study demonstrated that financial benefits significantly affect passengers’ continuous intention to use Careem. Careem passengers in Jordan are often value-conscious and demand more quality service at a fair price. Although Careem’s prices are higher compared to other means of transportation in Jordan, such as buses or taxis, passengers prefer Careem because of its well-known brand. Also, many passen- gers use the ride-sharing service through the Careem platform, thus saving more money through this service [40]. Another factor that was found to be important is perceived platform quality. The rea- son for this result is that the customer considers the quality issue extremely important when using Careem [41]. For example, it is noted that Careem has accurate, sufficient, and timely information, an understandable and easy-to-handle interface, and a quick- response interactive experience. This study concluded that the Careem user experience is the strongest factor in influencing customers’ decisions to use Careem. It is clear and certain in this study that younger clients tend to use mobile applications in the transpor- tation sector more than the elderly, so this study found that the Careem user experience is the most important factor in the proposed study model. This is because more than half of the respondents were in the age group from 20 to 35, this age group is the largest group in society and the most interested in using new mobile phone applications. 148 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application 6 Limitations and future research This article contains some limitations. First, this article only focuses on the inten- tion to use Careem rather than the actual use behavior. In practice, intention and actual behavior are two different things. Therefore, it is recommended further investigation of actual use behavior of the respondents in the questionnaire. Due to the development in terms of design in the Careem application, it is likely that the questions mentioned in the survey did not cover all the features of the Careem application, and therefore may not fully include the consumer perspective of this application. On this basis, a better designing the questionnaire in the future is essential, thus obtaining an accurate, detailed and better treatment of the features of the Careem application. Another issue of importance to this study is the potential effects of different participants‘ demograph- ics on the results. More than half of the respondents are between 20 and 35 years old. This sample may not be fully representative of the general population. The younger generation (under 20) may have different characteristics when looking at mobile phone technologies from the older generation. It is possible that they are more interested in new technologies or have a different perspective on these technologies. To understand the customer‘s intention to use Careem in a comprehensive manner, it is important to conduct a study that includes the younger generations that will help to better understand their attitude and behavior in adoption. 7 Implications This study offers some vital theoretical implications. The proposed study model is relatively new and the factors within it have been carefully selected to fully reflect the passengers‘ understanding of the use of Careem. While most of the previous studies focused on understanding customer adoption of ride-sharing intention, this study chose to investigate the intention to use all services provided by Careem. Also, several previ- ous studies focused on Uber, as the current research noted this point and approved more Careem study. Some of the implications this study provides for business operators and policymakers as well as institutions related to transport when providing mobile appli- cation services. The online marketer should focus on presenting the apps that have an excellent app user experience and offering awards for recommending the use of mobile apps for reservations or trips on social networks [17, 42, 43]. In this way, the value and perceived financial benefits are increased for the customer. E-word of mouth is also an important factor in this study since many customers in Jordan make the decision to use a specific service based on online reviews provided by others. Therefore, Careem and the transport companies must provide electronic material on social sites explaining the advantages of using these services [44]. 8 References [1] Khan, Z.A., et al., Taxi bookng mobile application based on voice recognition. International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, 2019. 8(11): p. 87–91. iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 149 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application [2] Cohen, B. and J. Kietzmann, Ride on! Mobility business models for the sharing economy. Organization & Environment, 2014. 27(3): p. 279–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1086026614546199 [3] Bostman, R. and R. Rogers, What’s mine is yours. How collaborative consumption is chang- ing the way we live. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2011. [4] Schor, J.B. and C.J. Fitzmaurice, Collaborating and connecting: The emergence of the sharing economy, in Handbook of research on sustainable consumption. 2015, Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 410. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783471270.00039 [5] Puschmann, T. and R. Alt, Sharing economy. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 2016. 58(1): p. 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-015-0420-2 [6] Lawrence, L., Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. 2008: Penguin, London. [7] Rahman, U.H.F.B. and M.K. Zafar, Factors influencing uber adoption in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Open Economics, 2020. 3(1): p. 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1515/openec-2020-0105 [8] Zekanovic, K.L. and J. Grzunov, Evaluation of shared digital economy adoption: Case of Airbnb, in 37th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO). 2014, Opatija, Croatia: IEEE. [9] Satama, S., Consumer adoption of access-based consumption services-Case AirBnB, in Department of Marketing. 2014, Aalto University: Helsinki, Finland. [10] Hazarika, B., et al., Dissonance reduction strategies in ride-sharing apps-A case of Uber, in Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Pre-ICIS Workshop on HCI Research in MIS. 2018, Munich, Germany. [11] Hall, J., C. Kendrick, and C. Nosko, The effects of Uber’s surge pricing: A case study. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 2015. [12] Murad, S., et al., The correlation between customer satisfaction and service quality in Jordanian Uber & Careem. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering, 2019. 8(12): p. 5186–5192. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijitee.L2777.1081219 [13] Craig, S., 10 Careem statistics and facts (2020) | By the numbers. DMR Business Statistics 2020; Available from: https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/careem-statistics-facts/ [14] My Amman Life, Careem & Uber – Taxi Apps in Amman. 2020; Available from: https:// myammanlife.com/2017/12/18/careem-uber-taxi-apps-in-amman/ [15] Heather, S., C. Alexander, and A. Saeed, Uber buys rival Careem in $3.1 billion deal to dominate ride-hailing in Middle East. 2019; Available from: https://www.reuters.com/ article/us-careem-m-a-uber/uber-buys-rival-careem-in-3-1-billion-deal-to-dominate-ride- hailing-in-middle-east-idUSKCN1R70IM [16] Hawapi, M.W., et al., Effects of perceived risks, reputation and electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) on collaborative consumption of uber car sharing service, in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/215/1/012019 [17] Gharaibeh, M.K. and M.R.M. Arshad, Determinants of intention to use mobile banking in the North of Jordan: Extending UTAUT2 with mass media and trust. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2018. 13(8): p. 2023–2033. [18] Wang, Y., et al., An empirical study of consumers’ intention to use ride-sharing services: using an extended technology acceptance model. Transportation, 2020. 47(1): p. 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9893-4 [19] Chen, Y. and W. Salmanian, User acceptance in the sharing economy: An explanatory study of transportation network companies in China based on UTAUT2. MCIS Proceedings, 2017. 24: p. 1–17. [20] Venkatesh, V. and M.G. Morris, Why don’t men ever stop to ask for directions? Gender, social influence, and their role in technology acceptance and usage behavior. MIS Quarterly, 2000. 24(1): p. 115–139. https://doi.org/10.2307/3250981 150 http://www.i-jim.org https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1086026614546199 https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1086026614546199 https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783471270.00039 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-015-0420-2 https://doi.org/10.1515/openec-2020-0105 https://doi.org/10.35940/ijitee.L2777.1081219 https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/careem-statistics-facts/ https://myammanlife.com/2017/12/18/careem-uber-taxi-apps-in-amman/ https://myammanlife.com/2017/12/18/careem-uber-taxi-apps-in-amman/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-careem-m-a-uber/uber-buys-rival-careem-in-3-1-billion-deal-to-dominate-ride-hailing-in-middle-east-idUSKCN1R70IM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-careem-m-a-uber/uber-buys-rival-careem-in-3-1-billion-deal-to-dominate-ride-hailing-in-middle-east-idUSKCN1R70IM https://www.reuters.com/article/us-careem-m-a-uber/uber-buys-rival-careem-in-3-1-billion-deal-to-dominate-ride-hailing-in-middle-east-idUSKCN1R70IM https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/215/1/012019 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9893-4 https://doi.org/10.2307/3250981 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application [21] Hsu, C.-L., K.-C. Chang, and M.-C. Chen, The impact of website quality on customer sat- isfaction and purchase intention: perceived playfulness and perceived flow as mediators. Information Systems and E-Business Management, 2012. 10(4): p. 549–570. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10257-011-0181-5 [22] Al-Qeisi, K., et al., Website design quality and usage behavior: Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Journal of Business Research, 2014. 67(11): p. 2282–2290. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.06.016 [23] Magrath, V. and H. McCormick, Marketing design elements of mobile fashion retail apps. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 2013. 17(1): p. 115–134. https://doi.org/10.1108/13612021311305173 [24] Bappy, T.A., et al., Predicting passengers’ Uber adoption behaviour: Evidence from Bangladesh. South Asian Journal, 2020. 1(1): p. 86–126. [25] Tabachnick, B.G., L.S. Fidell, and J.B. Ullman, Using multivariate statistics. Vol. 5. 2007: Pearson Boston, MA. [26] Hair, J.F., et al., Multivariate data analysis: A global perspective (Vol. 7). 2010, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. [27] Kline, R.B., Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. 2005. New York, NY: Guilford, 2005. 2. [28] West, S.G., J.F. Finch, and P.J. Curran, Structural equation models with nonnormal vari- ables: Problems and remedie, in R. H. Hoyle (Ed.). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications, Sage Publications, Inc., 1995: p. 56–75. [29] Podsakoff, P.M., et al., Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2003. 88(5): p. 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879 [30] Lee, S.-G., S. Trimi, and C. Kim, The impact of cultural differences on technology adoption. Journal of World Business, 2013. 48(1): p. 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.06.003 [31] Nunnally, J.C., Psychometric theory, McGraw-Hill New York. 1978. [32] Hair, J.F., et al., Multivariate data analysis: A global perspective. 7 ed. 2010: Pearson Education International. [33] Bhattacherjee, A. and C. Sanford, Influence processes for information technology accep- tance: An elaboration likelihood model. MIS quarterly, 2006. 30(4): p. 805–825. https://doi. org/10.2307/25148755 [34] Chung, N., C. Koo, and J.K. Kim, Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for using a booth rec- ommender system service on exhibition attendees’ unplanned visit behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 2014. 30: p. 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.035 [35] Ra’d Almestarihi, J.A.A., et al., The impact of social media marketing on brand equity: A systematic review. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCO- MAT), 2021. 12(6): p. 4073–4088. [36] Gharaibeh, N., et al., Exploring intention to adopt mobile commerce: Integrating UTAUT2 with social media. International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research, 2020. 9(3): p. 3826–3833. [37] Gharaibeh, M.K. and N.K. Gharaibeh, A Conceptual Framework for Intention to Use Travel Apps: A Study From Emerging Markets. International Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 2022. 13(1): p. 1–16. https://doi. org/10.4018/IJSSMET.290333 [38] Gharaibeh, M.K., et al., Intention to use mobile augmented reality in the tourism sector. Computer Systems Scence and Engineering, 2021. 37(2): p. 187–202. [39] Gharaibeh, M.K., N.K. Gharaibeh, and M.V. De Villiers, A qualitative method to explain acceptance of mobile health application: Using innovation diffusion theory. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 2020. 29(4): p. 3426–3432. iJIM ‒ Vol. 16, No. 07, 2022 151 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-011-0181-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-011-0181-5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.06.016 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.06.016 https://doi.org/10.1108/13612021311305173 https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.06.003 https://doi.org/10.2307/25148755 https://doi.org/10.2307/25148755 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.035 https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSSMET.290333 https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSSMET.290333 Paper—An Empirical Analysis of User’s Continuance Intention (UCI) towards Careem Mobile Application [40] Gharaibeh, M.K. and N.K. Gharaibeh, Understanding adoption intention of mobile shopping applications: Empirical assessment from IDT–perceived risk and enjoyment. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development (IJSKD), 2021. 13(2): p. 31–47. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSKD.2021040103 [41] Gharaibeh, M.K. and N.K. Gharaibeh, An empirical study on factors influencing the inten- tion to use mobile learning. Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal, 2020. 5(5): p. 1261–1265. https://doi.org/10.25046/aj0505151 [42] Gharaibeh, M.K., M.R. Arshad, and N.K. Gharaibeh, Using the UTAUT2 model to determine factors affecting adoption of mobile banking services: A qualitative approach. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 2018. 12(4): p. 123–134. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i4.8525 [43] Gharaibeh, M.K. and M.R. Arshad, The impact of demographic factors and visual aesthetics of mobile application interface on intention to use mobile banking in Jordan. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 2018. 96(4): p. 937–945. [44] Gharaibeh, M. and M.R.M. Arshad, Current status of mobile banking services in Jordan. World Applied Sciences Journal, 2016. 34(7): p. 931–935. 9 Authors Malik Khlaif Gharaibeh received his PhD degree in Management Information Systems from Universiti Sains Malaysia (It is ranked #142 in QS Global World Rank- ings 2021) in Penang, Malaysia. At present, Malik Gharaibeh is an Assistant professor of Management Information Systems at Ajloun National University. He published several 15 papers in International Journals and participated in several International Conferences. His current research interests are Technology Adoption, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Tourism with a special focus on Mobile application. Further, He is a reviewer speaker in many International Journals and Conferences. Email: malik.gharaibeh@anu.edu.jo Natheer Khlaif Gharaibeh is currently working as Associate Professor at Taibah University. He worked at Balqa Applied University, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and other Jordanian universities. In 2011 he got a grant for the joint project from the DFG with Rostock Technical University – Germany. He received his Ph.D. in 2009 in Computer Information System from AABFS – Amman, He published many papers in several International Journals and participated with many International Conferences. His current research interests are Decision Support Systems, Business Intelligence, Mobile and Web Applications, NLP, IR and Knowledge Societies. He is an editorial board member, reviewer and Keynote speaker in many International Journals and Conferences, he also has membership in many International and Technical societies. Article submitted 2021-09-22. Resubmitted 2022-01-11. Final acceptance 2022-02-14. Final version published as submitted by the authors. 152 http://www.i-jim.org https://doi.org/10.4018/IJSKD.2021040103 https://doi.org/10.25046/aj0505151 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i4.8525 mailto:malik.gharaibeh@anu.edu.jo