Determinants of customers choices on online-enabled transportation services amidst the Covid-19 pandemic Julianne D. Macababayao, April Rose L. Villanueva, Ma. Patricia V. Yanguas 6

Research Paper: (BSBA major in Business Economics) - Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, 2021 56

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ABSTRACT Mobility is crucial in any society, making transportation services available and readily accessible through customer fingertips helps meet the demand in the market. Online-enabled transportation services (OETS) is an Internet-based innovation of the transportation industry which digital applications connect drivers or service providers to customers directly. This new innovation is a hybrid of traditional and modern transportation made possible through apps with location settings that help drivers and customers to respond to each other while knowing the exact location. The most prominent OETS availed by the public consists of ride-hailing and delivery services. Ride-hailing is an individual booking of a vehicle with a designed driver as a means for transportation. Delivery, on the other hand, is the process of ordering food from a website or other application to be given at the doorstep. The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the use of OETS resulting in high-demand (Arreola, 2020) due to people being quarantined. The researchers made a quantitative study to identify the most considered factor in using OETS from the following factors, quality of service; professionalism of drivers; affordability; safety and security; convince; environmental impact; and customers rating and review - and if there is a significant difference in customer choices in terms of demographics. Instrument used in this study is a research-made checklist questionnaire, gathering data through online surveys via Google Forms. This paper does not address the factors that hinders customers in availing OETS. The predetermined factors were taken from a related study and formulated by researchers. OETS described in study is limited to same-day ride-hailing and delivery services only. Respondents are the employed regular users of OETS in the National Capital Region. Each was contacted and were able to answer the researcher-made questionnaire online. The researchers used Frequency and Percentage distribution tables to identify and analyze the demographic profile of the respondents. The questionnaire proper was divided into two parts, ride-hailing and delivery services: each had the seven factors given and with the computation of each factors' mean, the grand mean followed and was used to identify the most considered determinant. It was found that low variation from centered mean was evident when regular customers consider determinants given. It was found that low variation from centered mean was evident when regular customers consider determinants given. The researcher ran the data gathered in SPSS and used One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to determine whether there is a significant difference in the predetermined determinants with the P-Value is used to accept or reject the null hypothesis. The interpretation of P-Value is used to determine the strength of evidence against the null hypothesis. Findings showed convenience is the most influencing determinant considered by users in availing OETS. In accordance with the null hypothesis, it is found that there are certain determinants considered when using OETS, and when tested with each of the respondents' demographic profile, this show result that reject the null hypothesis and are concluded to have significant differences, as proved by their P-values and supported by the F-Tests using One-way ANOVA It was found that female regular users are considering safety and security at a higher rate than men whenever availing OETS. People who have lower disposable income are more considerate of quality of services provided and safety and security ensured than people with higher disposable income, who on the other hand, considers behavior or professionalism more than others. Regular ride-hailing service users who usually avail the said service for leisure or recreational transportation considers safety and security at a higher rate than others. During this pandemic, the most usual purpose of availing same-day online delivery services is mostly for food takeouts. A larger rate if regular users of OETS who prefer to use E-wallets as mode of payment for the said services prioritizes convenience the most.

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