Economic Analysis and Policy 77 (2023) 239–250

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Economic Analysis and Policy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eap

Modelling Economic Policy Issues

Modeling the effect of social media on older adults’ usage

intention of public transport
∗
Chunxiao Zhu a , Minghuan Shou b , , Yitong Zhou b , Wenrui Li a
a
School of Art, Anhui University, Anhui 230000, China
b
School of Business, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315000, China

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: Although using public transport can effectively reduce carbon emissions, the percentage
Received 25 September 2022 of people using it is still very small. Meanwhile, population aging has been a global
Received in revised form 6 November 2022 problem and the number of older adults is still growing. Thus, encouraging more older
Accepted 24 November 2022
adults to use public transport will significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon
Available online 28 November 2022
emissions. This paper explores the effect of social media, one of the most popular ways to
Keywords: share information, on older adults’ intention to use public transport. To comprehensively
Older adults measure the effects of social media, this paper considers two different kinds of perceived
Public transport benefits (information sharing and price saving) and perceived risks (financial and privacy
Social media risks) separately. This paper, first, conducted a research framework based on the theory
Theory of planned behavior
of planned behavior and then collected 197 questionnaire data. After employing the
validity and reliability tests, the hypotheses were tested. The results show that perceived
benefits of social media have a positive effect on older adults’ intention to use and
recommend public transport. However, financial risks do not significantly affect older
adults’ intention to use and recommend public transport, while privacy risks can affect
older adults’ intention, but not negatively.
© 2022 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights
reserved.

1. Introduction

Population aging is adapted to reflect the high proportion of older adults and has become a significant and widespread
demographic phenomenon in most countries. It has been a severe problem influencing people’s lives and social develop-
ment (Lutz et al., 2008). However, the percentage of people over 60 is growing quickly, with the world’s elderly population
expected to increase by 56% between 2015 and 2030, from 0.9 billion to 1.4 billion. According to research, by 2050, there
will be 2.0 billion older adults, accounting for a higher share of society, with about 80% of them living in developing
countries (United Nations, 2015). More seriously, the rate of population aging is predicted to accelerate dramatically over
the world over the coming years. Compared to rural areas, the problem is much more serious in urban areas. More than
500 million older adults live in urban areas, and the number is still growing (AGE, 2016). A large number of older adults
in urban areas has received extensive public attention, and scholars from various fields have started studying how to
improve their lives, which will contribute more to the sustainable development of society.
World Health Organization (2007) has identified eight topic areas for an age-friendly city, the second one of these areas
is transportation. Transportation, including accessible and affordable public transport, is a significant factor influencing

∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: zcxdesign@ahu.edu.cn (C. Zhu), minghuan.shou@nottingham.edu.cn (M. Shou), zhouyitong980808@163.com (Y. Zhou),
lwrdesign080@ahu.edu.cn (W. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2022.11.014
0313-5926/© 2022 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Zhu, M. Shou, Y. Zhou et al. Economic Analysis and Policy 77 (2023) 239–250

active aging. In terms of older adults’ overall mobility patterns, they travel less than youths across all modes of
transportation. Following retirement, they frequently replace driving a private automobile with walking and public
transport, notably buses (Foresight, 2019). For older adults, the ability to move around the city, in particular, determines
their social participation and access to community and health services.
As a result of global warming, extreme weather events are becoming more common around the planet. The harmful
effects of such calamities have heightened public consciousness about environmental issues (Wang et al., 2017). Public
transport can significantly reduce carbon emissions and urban pollution, with studies showing that a city with public
transit reduces pollution by 1.7% compared to a city without public transport (Borck, 2019; Tamaki et al., 2019). However,
the percentage of individuals using public transportation remains low. Accordingly, exploring how to increase the
individual’s intention to use public transportation is becoming more critical.
On the other hand, with the rapid development of digital technology, digitization has become a global trend that
intersects with urbanization and an aging society (Loos et al., 2020). In this context, social media has become a trendy
way to access and share information, knowledge, experiences, and opinions and communicate with each other (Kaplan
and Haenlein, 2010). Therefore, accessing digital information about public transport through social media in the urban
environment is crucial for older adults.
There is a copious amount of research on how to implement social media in the public transportation domain and
the travel behavior of the elderly population in the existing literature. However, much of it tends to focus on two
extreme categories, concentrating on either the impact of social media on public transport data analysis and policymaking
(Efthymiou and Antoniou, 2012; Gal-Tzur et al., 2014; Kuflik et al., 2017) or on the travel needs and travel patterns of older
people in cities (Collia et al., 2003; Alsnih and Hensher, 2003; Kim et al., 2020). Only a few studies have examined the
impact of social media on users’ intentions to travel by public transport from their perspective. An important innovation
of this study is that we survey and analyze the influence of social media on the intention of older adults to use public
transport to fill the research gap. Therefore, the main research question of this paper is:
RQ: How can social media affect older adults’ intention to use public transport?
We note that the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model, which is commonly used to predict and understand human
behavior in behavior-related research areas, has yet to be applied to analyze and explore the impact of social media on
older people’s behavioral intentions to travel by public transport. Hence, the TPB model is used as a theoretical basis in
this work.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a literature review and presents the conceptual
framework, including the conceptual model developed in this study is explained and the hypotheses formulated. In
Section 3, the methodology and data collection are described. Data analysis and discussion of the results are presented in
Sections 4 and 5 respectively. The final section provides a conclusion of the study.

2. Literature review

2.1. Current studies related to social media

Social media, which are based on and facilitated by internet technology, have received much attention in recent
years and have been used in numerous fields (Ngai et al., 2015). Individuals are increasingly using social media for
specific goals. Current studies have examined the use of social media in marketing (Mathwick, 2002; Moncrief et al.,
2015), information sharing (Osatuyi, 2013; Oh and Syn, 2015), collaborative activities (Remesal and Colomina, 2013),
organizational communications (Zailskaite-Jakste and Kuvykaite, 2012), education and training (Greenhow and Lewin,
2016), and other fields.
In the field of transportation, social media is increasingly being recognized as a valuable tool for communicating
with customers in various ways by transport suppliers, governments, and academia (Pender et al., 2014; Li et al., 2019).
Gal-Tzur et al. (2014) pointed out that social media could be involved in public transport in two aspects: the potential
uses of social media by transportation service providers and the potential value of public sharing of transport-related
information for policy development. Nikolaidou and Paraioannou (2017) examined how social media can affect trip
maker’s choices. According to their findings, nearly 64% of survey participants got information about their trip from social
media, particularly when they used public transportation. They also reveal that this information has the potential to alter
their route or travel time significantly.
While these studies explored the value of social media for public transport and the perceptions of trip makers, we still
do not know much about how social media affects older adults’ intentions to use public transport. Thus, this study will
explore the impact of older adults’ perceived benefits and risks of social media on their attitudes and intentions to use
public transport.

2.2. Theory of planned behavior

The TPB model is the theoretical basis for this study. Icek Ajzen first proposed the theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
model in 1985, and now it has been applied extensively to predict and examine users’ intentions and behavior. According
to the TPB, attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in combination lead to the
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formation of a behavioral intention. The more favorable the attitude and subjective norm, and the greater the perceived
control, the stronger the person’s intention to perform the behavior should be. Furthermore, To the extent that perceived
behavioral control is veridical, it can serve as a proxy for actual control and contribute to predicting the behavior (Ajzen,
2002). In the context of social media adoption, TPB has been widely applied to examine social media usage and e-service
acceptance (Hsu and Chiu, 2004; Hansen et al., 2018; Joo et al., 2020). The present study integrates two psychological
factors – older adults’ perceived benefits and perceived risks of social media – into TPB as variables to explain older
adults’ attitudes and intentions to use public transport.

2.3. Effect of consumers’ perceived benefits on their attitude towards public transport

Perceived benefits are consistently identified as one of the most critical factors influencing social media adoption.
According to Sharif et al. (2015), relevant benefits associated with this factor range from easy access to information,
instant communication, low maintenance and operating costs, and the ability to establish two-way interaction with
online communities (i.e., promoting local events, correcting misinformation, disseminating information on weather
and road traffic warnings and other urgent issues, etc.). Social media plays a crucial role in modern life, including a
potentially huge impact on transportation, as it has many advantages that traditional channels cannot offer. Among these
perceived benefits, the literature suggests that for millennials and baby boomers who use social media, ‘‘the main focus
is connection’’, meaning that both groups are interested in exchanging information with others through social media
platforms (Barker, 2012). Meanwhile, social media plays a vital role in searching for price discounts and communicating
these discounts to others (Eastman et al., 2021). Price-conscious consumers are more likely to use social media to find
the best price deals (Noh et al., 2013). Furthermore, based to a certain extent on reasons offered by Gal-Tzur et al. (2014),
transport-related information in social media has two main types of perceived benefits, which can be categorized as
information sharing and price saving.
Information sharing (IS) is defined as an activity in which individuals, friends, families, communities, and organizations
exchange information, skills, or expertise (Miller and Shamsie, 1996). Social media contribute to and facilitate information
in online communities (Ngai et al., 2015), particularly knowledge related to product information, travel information,
service information, News & Events, and user experiences. Older adults regard social media as an effective channel to
keep in touch with family and friends (Bui, 2022), sharing their views on news, products, and services. Therefore, social
media help older adults share their travel-related information with family and friends, as well as make decisions about
using public transport to get around. Thus, the following hypothesis is formulated.

H1. Older adults’ perceived benefit (information sharing) of social media has a positive effect on their attitude toward
using public transport.
Price saving (PS) refers to customers can buy products/services at a lower cost or get a higher quality service for
the same cost (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick, 2010; Moshrefjavadi et al., 2012). Price fairness is a significant factor that
influences price sensitivity among older consumers. Consumer shopping intentions are subsequently discouraged when
perceived price unfairness exists (Campbell, 1999). According to Sudbury and Simcock (2009), most older people are highly
price-conscious and have a positive attitude toward discounts. Thus, when older adults access discount information or
coupons for public transport on social media, the perceived price savings from further price comparisons will motivate
them to choose. This study hypothesizes as follows.

H2. Older adults’ perceived benefit (price saving) of social media has a positive effect on their attitude toward using
public transport.

2.4. Effect of consumers’ perceived risks on their attitude towards public transport

Perceived risks are defined as a kind of subjective expected loss (Peter and Ryan, 1976) and the possible loss when
pursuing the desired result (Featherman and Pavlou, 2003). According to many scholars, consumers’ perceived risks are
a multidimensional construct. Financial, performance, social, physical, privacy, and time-loss are the six components or
types of perceived risks that have been identified (Roselius, 1971; Kaplan et al., 1974). Older adults use social media
to access information about public transport does not incur any threat to human life and time, nor does it involve
performance and social risks. Thus, we define the perceived risks as the subjective expectation of loss for older social
media users in considering travel by public transport, including financial and privacy risks.
Financial risks (FR) refer to the potential loss of money due to operational errors or misuse of social media accounts.
Scams have become a popular cybercrime trend on social media (Nagunwa, 2014). Rabiner et al. (2006) argued that
because older adults were lonelier, more isolated, and had reduced cognitive abilities, they were at high risk of being
defrauded and vulnerable to financial exploitation. For older adults using social media to access public transport
information, financial risk is posed by information and phishing advertisements on social media. When using social media
to access and share information about public transport, older adults are exposed to financial risk not only through false
transport information that makes them spend money unnecessarily but also through phishing advertisements about public
transport that scam them. Accordingly, the following hypotheses are proposed:
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Fig. 1. Research model.

H3. Older adults’ perceived financial risk of social media will negatively influence their attitude toward using public
transport.

Privacy risks (PR) are defined as a threat that creates a ‘‘circumstance, condition, or event with the potential to cause
multiple difficulties for the user’’ in the form of destruction, disclosure, modification, or modification of data (Kalakota and
Whinston, 1997). For example, researchers discovered that when users access website personalization services, they are
concerned about the amount of personal information collected (Ho, 2006). Bui (2022) also mentions that while the social
connectedness of social media can significantly help older people become less isolated, it also increases old consumers’
privacy concerns. Accordingly, it is reasonable to assume that older adults’ perceived privacy risk associated with using
social media will negatively influence their attitudes toward using public transport. Thus, we propose:

H4. Older adults’ perceived privacy risk of social media will negatively influence their attitude toward using public
transport.

2.5. Effect of consumers’ attitude towards public transport on their intention to use and recommend public transport

Attitude is a psychological tendency that refers to positive or negative evaluations of a specific object or behavior
(Ajzen and Cote, 2008). Many previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between attitude towards a particular
technology and the intention to use that technology (Davis, 1989; Park and Ohm, 2014). Ajzen and Cote (2008) noted
that an individual’s attitude toward a particular technology is the best predictor of an individual’s intention to use this
technology. Based on previous research, it can also be deduced that when older adults have a positive attitude toward
using public transport, they are more likely to form an intention to adopt public transport. Therefore, this study revisits
the influence of attitude on intention and decomposes it into usage intention and recommendation intention, which led
to the presentation of H5–H6 hypotheses:

H5. Older adults’ attitudes toward public transport positively influence their intention to use it.

H6. Older adults’ attitudes toward public transport positively influence their intention to recommend it to others.

The conceptual research model is depicted in Fig. 1. Hypothetical relationships between the research constructs are
then tested and discussed.
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Table 1
Research constructs and measurements.
Construct Item# Measurement item
IS1 Social media provides an excellent service for public transport information.
Information sharing (IS) IS2 Social media sharing public transport-related information helps me to keep up
(Moghavvemi et al., 2017; Kim to date.
et al., 2022) IS3 Social media provides people with benefits for traveling.
IS4 I appreciated being able to exchange transport-related information with my
friends on social media.
IS5 Social media allows me to contribute to public transport by sharing
information.
PS1 I can save money by getting information about discounts through social
Price saving (PS) media.
(Escobar-Rodríguez and PS2 I like to search for discounts for public transport on different social media
Carvajal-Trujillo, 2013) apps.
PS3 Social media offer better value for my money.
PS4 Discount information from social media can provide me with different
information for travel decision-making.
PS5 Discount information from social media is helpful to reduce my travel costs.
FR1 I am afraid of suffering financial losses when using social media.
Financial risks (FR) (Wang FR2 I might get overcharged when I use social media.
et al., 2018; Ariffin et al., 2018) FR3 Using social media can involve a waste of money.
FR4 I am afraid of overspending using social media.
PR1 I am concerned that social media will collect too much personal travel
Privacy risks (PR) (Kyriakidis information from me.
et al., 2015) PR2 I am concerned that social media will use my personal travel information for
other purposes without my authorization.
PR3 I am concerned that social media will share my personal travel information
with other entities without my authorization.
PR4 Social media may expose my personal travel information to danger
Attitude1 Using public transport is a good idea.
Attitude2 Using public transport is a wise idea.
Attitude (Davis, 1989) Attitude3 Using public transport is pleasant.
Attitude4 Using public transport is rewarding.
Attitude5 Using public transport is sensible.
UI1 I predict I would travel by public transport in the future.
Usage Intention (UI)
UI2 I plan to travel by public transport in the future.
(Venkatesh and Davis, 2003;
UI3 I will travel by public transport next time.
Gold et al., 2015)
UI4 I will try to travel by public transport if necessary.
Recommendation Intention (RI) RI1 I would likely recommend public transport to friends and relatives.
(Harrison-Walker, 2001; RI2 I would seldom miss an opportunity to tell others interested in travel about
Algesheimer et al., 2005) public transport on social media.
RI3 I would probably say positive things about public transport on social media.
RI4 I am happy to recommend using public transport to others

Note(s): All items are measured on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree’’ (1) to ‘‘strongly agree’’ (7).

3. Research methodology

3.1. Questionnaire design and construct measurement

We conducted a survey of older adults to investigate the research questions. As there are different criteria for defining
the exact age of older adults, here we refer to the United Nations definition (2015) and the convention that people over
60 are referred to as ‘elderly’. To ensure the content validity of the measured variables, we adapted all measurement
items from the validated instruments in previous studies and reworded them to fit the context of this study. All items
except the control variables were measured using a seven-point Likert scale, with one denoting ‘‘strongly disagree’’ and
seven denoting ‘‘strongly agree’’. The initial questionnaire included 33 items related to the constructs. Since the original
scales were in English, we translated them into Chinese using the conventional back-translation method and compared
the back-translated scales to the originals to ensure the accuracy and quality of translations. Then, to ensure the reliability
and validity of our instruments, we conducted a two-stage pretest. First, the questionnaires were distributed to five senior
researchers in the fields of social media and transportation. Several items were slightly reworded, and two items were
removed based on their feedback after checking for ambiguity in wording, logical consistency, and contextual relevance.
Then we conducted a pilot study on 20 older adults who use social media frequently, asking for feedback on the structure
and items of the questionnaire until we had a final version with good reliability and validity. Table 1 lists the constructs
and items used for the formal survey.
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Table 2
Demographic characteristics of the samples.
Demographic variable Count Percentage (%)
Male 115 58.38
Gender
Female 82 41.62
60–64 162 82.23
65–70 22 11.17
71–75 9 4.57
Age
76–80 2 1.02
81–85 0 0
> 85 2 1.02
Middle school 54 27.41
High school 74 37.56
Education
Bachelor’s degree 61 30.97
Master’s degree or higher 8 4.06
< = CNY 1999 57 28.93
CNY 2000–3999 72 36.55
Personal income CNY 4000–5999 38 19.29
per month CNY 6000–7999 12 6.09
CNY 8000–9999 10 5.08
> = CNY 10000 8 4.06

3.2. Control variables

We included gender, age, educational level, and income as control variables in our model to control the extraneous
effects of various individual characteristics. Gender, age, education level, and income were selected as they were often
suggested by the available literature as demographic controls and might potentially impact individuals’ psychological
states (Yang et al., 2017).

3.3. Data collection

The empirical data for this study were conducted through an anonymous online survey platform wjx.com, a profes-
sional survey website in China. A snowball sampling technique was used to distribute the online survey link to appropriate
residents through our personal contacts via instant messaging tools (Jia et al., 2018). Participants were asked to provide
their responses and pass the survey link to as many study participants as they thought appropriate to increase the sample
size. The questionnaire consisted of four parts, the first of which briefly explained the purpose of the academic research
and clarified that the respondents’ information was strictly anonymous and confidential and would never be leaked out.
Moreover, to be sure that the respondents possess the same understanding of social media, a summarized definition of
social media was provided at the beginning of the survey. In the second part of the survey, respondents were asked if
they were 60 or older and if they had any experience using social media. If the answer to both questions was ‘‘yes’’, they
were asked to complete the survey. If the answer to either of the two questions was ‘‘no’’, they ended their participation
in the survey. In the third part of the questionnaire, we asked participants to provide their personal information such
as gender, age, education level, and monthly income. The questions designed to measure all the constructs in our model
were included in the final part.
The questionnaire was formally launched on 1 May 2022 and lasted for two weeks, with 217 responses collected. All
returned questionnaires were carefully checked, and 20 incomplete or careless questionnaires were excluded, including
15 questionnaires where participants had no experience using social media and 5 questionnaires where all item scores
were the same. The final number of available samples was 197, with a valid rate of 90.78%. The demographic data of
these valid respondents, such as gender, age, educational level, and monthly personal income are shown in Table 2. It
indicated that male respondents accounted for 58.38% of the 197 respondents and most respondents were between 60
and 64 (82.23%). Regarding educational level, the largest number of respondents (37.56%) had a high school education.
Most of the respondents have a net monthly income of 2000–3999 RMB (36.55%) and less than or equal to 1999 RMB
(28.39%).

4. Results

4.1. Testing results of the measurement model

Before constructing the partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), we employed the Smart
PLS to test the measurement model. We tested the construct reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity in the three
steps (Fig. 2), followed by the work published by Chen and Paulraj (2004), Cheng (2021), and Xiao et al. (2022). Only if
all three tests are passed will the following empirical analysis continue. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was not
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Fig. 2. Methods for testing validity and reliability.

conducted, as all the items measured in this study were adapted from the validated instruments in previous studies. We
used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the construct validity.
Firstly, we evaluated the construct reliability with composite reliability (CR) (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) and Cronbach’s
alpha with the cut-off values equaling 0.8 and 0.7, respectively. As Table 3 presents, the CR value of each construct
is greater than 0.7, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients are all higher than 0.8, suggesting the good performance of the
questionnaire data in the reliability test. Secondly, for testing the convergent validity of the scales, the values of the lowest
average variance extracted (AVE) and loadings were calculated. We found that the AVE coefficients of all constructs are
higher than 0.5, and the loadings are all higher than 0.7. This demonstrated an acceptable convergent validity of our
model.
In the third step, the discriminant validity was tested by examining whether the correlation coefficients between the
constructs were less than the square roots of the AVE. As shown in Table 4, none of the correlation estimates is greater
than the square roots of AVE on the diagonal above, suggesting that the discriminant validity meets the requirement.
Following the above three steps, the findings support the model’s good performance in the validity and reliability tests.
Accordingly, we can use the models to examine the effect of social media on consumers’ intention to use public transport
and test the hypotheses.

4.2. Testing results of the structural model and mediating effects

As the data used in this paper was collected by the questionnaire, and the survey data were not normally distributed.
Besides, the number of the questionnaire was also limited, suggesting the suitability of employing PLS-SEM to test the
hypotheses (Lestari, 2019). Thus, Smart PLS was used to test the structural model.
The testing results of the research hypotheses are shown in Table 5. Our model explains 70.2% of the variance of
consumers’ recommendation intention and 83.1% of the variance of consumers’ usage intention, indicating the sufficient
explanatory power of the model. Firstly, we use information sharing and price saving as two detailed constructs to examine
the effect of perceived benefits. The results indicate that information sharing (H1: estimate = 0.374; t = 3.07; p < 0.01)
and price saving (H2: estimate = 0.361; t = 3.004; p < 0.01) are both significantly related to older adults’ attitudes. Older
adults who perceive more benefits from the information sharing and discounts provided via social media are more likely to
increase their positive attitudes towards public transport. This supports H1 and H2. Secondly, we test the effect of financial
risks and privacy risks on older adults’ attitudes. We find that financial risks do not significantly affect the attitude (H3:
estimate = −0.065; t = 1.166; ns). Although the effect of privacy risks is significant at the 99% level, the estimate is
positive and opposite to the hypothesis (H4: estimate = 0.205; t = 3.538; p < 0.01). H3 and H4 are rejected. Eventually,
we test the relationship between older adults’ attitude and their recommendation intention and usage intention. The
findings support that the older adults who have a more positive attitude towards public transport are prone to using
public transport (H5: estimate = 0.912; t = 41.529; p < 0.01) and recommending others (H6: estimate = 0.839; t =
25.931; p < 0.01) to use public transport. Thus, H5 and H6 are supported.
To foster our understanding, we also test the mediation effect of attitude on the relationship between older adults’
perceived benefits, perceived risks, and their usage intention and recommendation intention. As shown in Table 6,
attitude can significantly mediate the relationship between older adults’ perceived benefits and their usage intention
and recommendation intention of public transport. While for the mediation effect on the relationship between perceived
risks and older adults’ usage intention and recommendation intention, the effect is only significant when the perceived
risk is related to privacy.
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Table 3
Convergent validity and internal reliability.
Cronbach’s rho_A Composite AVE Indicators Loading
Alpha reliability
Information 0.971 0.973 0.978 0.897 IS1 0.946
sharing IS2 0.942
IS3 0.965
IS4 0.933
IS5 0.95
Price saving 0.97 0.971 0.977 0.894 PS1 0.942
PS2 0.945
PS3 0.941
PS4 0.952
PS5 0.947
Financial risks 0.976 0.996 0.982 0.932 FR1 0.947
FR2 0.983
FR3 0.978
FR4 0.953
Privacy risks 0.962 0.999 0.971 0.895 PR1 0.936
PR2 0.95
PR3 0.96
PR4 0.938
Attitude 0.978 0.978 0.982 0.918 Attitude1 0.951
Attitude2 0.966
Attitude3 0.941
Attitude4 0.964
Attitude5 0.968
Usage intention 0.968 0.968 0.977 0.913 UI1 0.936
UI2 0.957
UI3 0.972
UI4 0.956
Recommendation 0.955 0.958 0.967 0.88 RI1 0.934
intention RI2 0.922
RI3 0.939
RI4 0.956

Table 4
Correlation matrix and square roots of AVEs.
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Information sharing 0.947
2 Price saving 0.879 0.945
3 Financial risk 0.054 0.089 0.965
4 Privacy risk 0.16 0.189 0.575 0.946
5 Attitude 0.721 0.723 0.105 0.295 0.958
6 Usage intention 0.705 0.69 0.112 0.264 0.912 0.955
7 Recommendation intention 0.681 0.692 0.131 0.226 0.839 0.856 0.938

Table 5
Results of the structural model.
Estimates T Sig Hypotheses
Information sharing —- > Attitude 0.374 3.07 *** H1 supported
Price saving —- > Attitude 0.361 3.004 *** H2 supported
Financial risks —– > Attitude −0.065 1.166 ns H3 rejected
Privacy risks —– > Attitude 0.205 3.538 *** H4 rejected
Attitude — > Usage intention 0.912 41.529 *** H5 supported
Attitude — > Recommendation intention 0.839 25.931 *** H6 supported

Note: ***p < 0.01.

5. Discussions

Taking advantage of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model, this research attempts to investigate the influence of
social media on the intention of older adults to use public transport. We examine the perceived benefits (i.e., information
sharing and price saving) and perceived risks (i.e., financial and privacy risks) on older adults’ attitudes and intentions
to use public transport. In contrast to previous studies relating to consumer intention to use public transport (Sumaedi
et al., 2012; Efthymiou and Antoniou, 2017), this study specifically considers the impact of older adults’ attitudes towards
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Table 6
Mediation effect of attitude.
Estimate T Sig
Information sharing - > attitude - > recommendation intention 0.314 2.993 ***
Information sharing - > attitude - > usage intention 0.341 3.014 ***
Perceived benefits
Price saving - > attitude - > recommendation intention 0.303 3.088 ***
Price saving - > attitude - > usage intention 0.33 3.114 ***
Financial risks - > attitude - > recommendation intention −0.06 1.185 ns
Financial risks - > attitude - > usage intention −0.055 1.184 ns
Perceived risks
Privacy risks - > attitude - > recommendation intention 0.172 3.696 ***
Privacy risks - > attitude - > usage intention 0.187 3.66 ***

Note: ***p < 0.01.

social media on their intention to use public transport, which has rarely been empirically studied before. The findings
could expand our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of public transport use by older adults in the
context of aging and digitalization. The main conclusions drawn from this study are twofold.
First, in the perceived benefits dimension of social media among older adults, as hypothesized, information sharing and
price saving positively affect their attitude and intention to use and recommend public transport to others. The findings
highlighted the importance of information sharing and price-saving benefits perceived by older adults through social
media in motivating them to form intentions to adopt public transport. Several studies have examined the positive impact
of social media’s information sharing in persuading users to use public transportation and the perceived price-saving
benefits of social media on consumers’ formation of behavior intentions (Bregman, 2012; Novita and Husna, 2020). This
study further enriches the findings on the positive role of social media information sharing and price saving in shaping
older adults’ intentions to use and recommend public transport. Perceptions of disrupted access to transport-related
information on social media and the high risk of being unable to save money may discourage them from using public
transport. Therefore, to motivate older Chinese adults further to use public transport, special attention should be paid to
improving information sharing and communication through social media and holding more ridesharing discount events
to enhance their perceived potential benefits.
Second, contrary to our expectations, neither perceived risks, including financial risks nor privacy risks, have negative
influences on older adults’ attitudes towards public transport. Specifically, financial risks have an insignificant effect
on attitudes, while privacy risks have a significant impact on attitudes but not in a negative way. At the same time,
attitudes can significantly mediate the relationship between older adults’ perceived benefits and their intention to use and
recommend public transport. For perceived risks, on the other hand, the effect is significant only when the perceived risk
is related to privacy. This means that older Chinese adults’ perceived financial risk on social media cannot influence their
attitudes toward public transport and their intention to use and recommend it. On the contrary, the effect of privacy risk
is significant, but this effect is positive. An important reason for explaining it is that governments have proposed some
relevant policies on protecting consumers’ privacy. Although older adults may perceive a privacy risk, some external
influences may affect it and older adults may still want to use public transport.
The possible reasons for the second result can be explained as follows. Firstly, for most older users, financial
risks strongly influence their perceptions of online consumption, so they use social media primarily for informational
communication and entertainment (Bui, 2022). In addition, many older adults still maintain the habit of paying their
fares with cash or transport cards rather than paying electronically, combined with the fact that many cities provide
free services for older adults aged 65 or 70 and above. Therefore, perceived financial risk on social media is not a factor
influencing older adults’ intention to use and recommend public transport. Secondly, social media can access users’ travel
data (Gal-Tzur et al., 2014), and older adults may concern about the risk of leakage of their location, travel routes, and
other privacy risks. However, older adults may feel that these privacy risks are relatively weak compared to the benefits
of public transport for their travel. As Shrestha et al. (2017) mentioned, today’s older adults are more active than past
generations of the same age. Public transport will be critical in allowing them to keep their active lifestyle even when
they cannot drive. Therefore, the influence of the privacy risks of social media on their attitudes towards public transport
and their intention to use and recommend public transport was not considered negative.
From the perspective of older adults, this finding adds relatively new evidence to the existing social media adoption for
public transport literature since only a few studies have previously examined the influence of social media on the user’s
behavior and intention of taking public transport. Furthermore, we extend the application of TPB theory to the field of
public transport by identifying the social media factors that influence older adults’ perceptions and behavioral intentions.
The findings of this research also have some practical implications for public transport stakeholders in motivating older
adults to travel by public transport. Firstly, given older adults’ positive attitude towards the perceived benefits of social
media, communicating with them about public transport-related information through social media is an effective way to
increase their intention to use and recommend public transport. Secondly, given the non-significant effect of perceived
financial risk, measures could still be taken further to reduce the perceived financial risks of older adults. For example,
public transport-related organizations could prominently warn people about financial risks on social media and post
relevant messages such as financial fraud prevention on buses. Finally, given the impact of perceived privacy risks,
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although the results suggest that the effects are not negative, specific measures should still be taken in practice to reduce
perceived privacy risks and enable older adults to feel more confident and at ease when traveling by public transport. The
above measures can not only help to increase the intention of older people to use public transport but are also crucial for
the sustainability of the urban environment.

6. Conclusion

In this research, a questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from the elderly in China to explore the
influence of perceived benefits (information sharing and price saving) and perceived risks (financial risks and privacy
risks) of social media on older adults’ intention to use public transport. The results confirmed that the perceived benefits
of social media had a positive effect on older adults’ intention to use and recommend public transport. However, financial
risks have no significant effects on older adults’ usage and recommendation intention, and privacy risks affect older adults’
intentions but not negatively.
This study not only contributes to the literature on TPB by enriching the research on the influence of social media
on older adults’ intention to use public transport but also holds implications for managerial practice and related policy
development. Therefore, based on the study’s findings, the impact of social media on older adults’ intention to use public
transport can be enhanced in the following ways. Firstly, social media platforms should be optimized and innovatively
designed to enhance the experience of older adults in terms of public transport-related features. This could make it easier
and faster for older adults to access information on any services related to public transport travel. Secondly, social media
platforms should also strengthen measures to protect older adults’ financial and privacy security, which would make them
feel more comfortable using social media to help them make travel decisions. Thirdly, urban public transport services and
management can use social media to maintain information sharing and interaction with older adults, such as posting
discount information, organizing green travel activities, and collecting user reviews to improve the level of age-friendly
services in urban public transport.
Although this research has some meaningful findings and implications that may provide insights for researchers
and practitioners in the field of transportation, it still has some limitations. Firstly, the empirical data for this research
is primarily based on the survey of older Chinese adults’ use of social media and public transport. The sample’s
representativeness could be improved if the sample size is further increased and the inclusion of samples from other
countries or regions. Secondly, this study does not subdivide the types of public transport. The impact of social media on
older adults’ intentions to use different types of public transport, such as buses, subways, and light rail, may vary. A survey
involving many different types of public transport is expected to yield richer insights. Finally, in this study, restricted
psychological aspects were investigated and incorporated into the TPB. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control
are not taken into consideration. These are what we will be doing in our future research.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Anhui Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project (Grant number
AHSKQ2021D124), for its generous financial support.

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