key: cord-0778637-7s89fd4d
authors: Nguyen-Phuoc, Duy Quy; Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar; Nguyen, Hieu Minh; Dinh, My Thanh Tran; Su, Diep Ngoc
title: Intentions to use ride-sourcing services in Vietnam: What happens after three months without COVID-19 infections?
date: 2022-04-05
journal: Cities
DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.103691
sha: 6585eba1adeed97eb26d8cc836d2d2af55b8b695
doc_id: 778637
cord_uid: 7s89fd4d

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought new risks and stress for paid transport users worldwide. COVID-19 has changed mobility dynamics worldwide, including low- and middle-income countries (e.g., Vietnam). The present study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of ride-sourcing passengers' behavioural intentions when COVID-19 outbreak management is successful by extending the TPB model with two constructs, including perceived virus infection risk and problem-focused coping. Using self-administered questionnaires, data were collected from ride-sourcing customers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A total of 540 responses were used for validating the proposed model. The structural equation model results indicate that problem-focused coping is a multi-faceted construct with two dimensions: problem-solving and self-protection. Also, problem-focused coping has the highest total effect on the intention to use ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 suppression (3 months without identified cases). The findings also reveal that attitude partially mediates the linkage between problem-focused coping and behavioural intention. The results of this study could be used to develop strategies to promote ride-sourcing services in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The transport sector has been one of the forerunners of the sharing economy (SE) revolution with the J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f massive success of Uber in 2011 (Martin, 2016) . Since then, a host of new technology-enabled forms of on-demand mobility have emerged and been adopted. Ride-sourcing is a typical example of this trend by offering a relatively similar service to traditional taxis enhanced by a booking app that supports pick up, routing, and pricing (Gilibert et al., 2019) . Ride-sourcing services are commercially and internationally operated by Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), such as Uber, Cabify, Ola, Didi, Chuxing, and Lyft. Many terminologies are used interchangeably to mention ride-sourcing, such as app-based ride services, on-demand ride services, ride-hailing or ride-booking services (Tirachini, 2020) . However, ridesourcing is not necessarily a shared service in that most ride-sharing trips convey one passenger or take one booking (Henao and Marshall, 2019) . Although ride-sourcing services bring fewer benefits than shared services (Tirachini, 2020) , it has attained considerable popularity as it has more benefits than traditional taxi services (Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021c) . Thus, the arrival of ride-sourcing services has contributed to the rapid growth of transport-for-hire services in big cities in over 66 countries (Contreras and Paz, 2018) . Up to now, most of the understanding on the use of ride-sourcing services is from highincome countries and China (Acheampong et al., 2020 , Akbari et al., 2020 , Contreras and Paz, 2018 , Gilibert et al., 2019 , Henao and Marshall, 2019 , Guo et al., 2020 , Xiong et al., 2021 . However, little is known about the use of or the intention to use ride-sourcing services in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Javaid et al., 2019 , Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021c . This may originate from the fact that ridesourcing in LMICs has fallen behind in quality and service availability compared to high-income countries (Tirachini, 2020) .

In Vietnam, ride-sourcing services have played an essential role. They are considered to be unofficial public transport (PT) due to the lack of actual PT infrastructure and delays with current plans to build more PT infrastructure (Pham et al., 2021 , Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2020 , Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021d . Although rapid mass transit (e.i., metro systems) projects were approved over ten years ago, there were no operating metro lines in Vietnam at the time of this study. Alternatively, Vietnam's first bus rapid transit corridor has been officially operating in Hanoi. However, its ridership is below the transport authorities' expectations (Nguyen et al., 2019) . The limited financial resources, lack of integrated land-use strategies, and discrepancies in views between the national and local transportation agencies are also significant barriers to building more PT infrastructure (Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021b) . All of this creates a heavy burden to the transport system (e.g., traffic congestion and pollution) because of private vehicles (Huynh, 2020; Huynh and Gomez-Ibañez, 2017) . As such, ride-sourcing has been become a common transport mode, particularly for low-and middle-income users, since it was first launched in Vietnam. Currently, Singapore-based Grab, one of the first to offer ride-sourcing services in 2014, dominates the Vietnamese ride-sourcing market.

The unprecedented spread of COVID-19, together with the broad implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., lockdowns and social distancing), has resulted in radical changes in how people behave and travel (De Vos, 2020) . Many recent studies highlight the reductions in travelling due to the substantial adoption of teleworking (Belzunegui-Eraso and Erro-Garcés, 2020 , Molloy et al., 2021 , Nguyen and Armoogum, 2021 . In scenarios where the opportunity to travel is available, it is widely accepted that the perceived risk of virus infection determines mobility decisions/intentions (Beck et al., 2020 , Nguyen, 2021 and the choice of transport mode (Musselwhite et al., 2020) . A public transport J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f vehicle is usually associated with a high perception of risk because this is an enclosed space with a crowd of passengers, which seems ideal for the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19. Thus, numerous passengers have given up this transport mode (Tirachini and Cats, 2020) . Ride-sourcing services do not share the same passenger crowding concerns (i.e., it is usually a driver and a passenger possibly with their friend/s); however, this vehicle could be an infected environment due to the driver or previous passengers infected with . Nonetheless, the perceived risk of infection when using ride-sourcing services could be lower than that of public transport, especially when considering passengers' self-protection measures (e.g., wearing a face mask).

The Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS) emphasises that the ability to cope with a problem (e.g., a disease) and protect oneself from it may lead to the activation or deactivation of an activity (e.g., travelling for tourism) (Fisher et al., 2018, Homburg and Stolberg, 2006) . Arguably, the profile of users of ride-sourcing services during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed worldwide due to physical distancing and other health measures (Awad-Núñez et al., 2021 , Dzisi et al., 2021 , Luan et al., 2021 , Morshed et al., 2021 . However, there is no research on what factors influence intention to use such services during this pandemic, particularly in jurisdictions that have experienced economic reactivation due to successful COVID-19 management. Motivated by the research gaps highlighted, the present study examines factors associated with the intention to use ride-sourcing services during the COVID-19 pandemic by proposing an extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and using data from an LMIC. The original TPB explains that intentions are predicted by attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen et al., 1990) . In the context of the ride-sourcing services, the TPB has been adapted and extended to consider the intention to use app-based travel modes (Fu, 2021 . The current study considers the issues mentioned above by extending the TPB with two new constructs: including problemfocused coping measured by two second-order constructs newly adopted (i.e., problem-solving and selfprotection) and perceived virus infection risk. The research context is Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, a typical LMIC megacity (Huynh, 2020) , with rapid growth in the ride-sourcing market (Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021c) .

The present study addresses gaps in the literature on the intention to choose ride-sourcing services in several ways. First, this is one of the first studies modelling the intention of using ride-sourcing services in an LMIC during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second is the theoretical contributions regarding the extension of TPB and influential factors. Specifically, the study will examine the importance of problemfocused coping and perceived risk on the intention to use ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 infection suppression. Based on the findings, policy implications have been proposed to develop ride-sourcing services sustainably under the impacts of a pandemic in LMICs. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 and Section 3 present the foundational background and the hypotheses development of the proposed model. These sections are followed by the methodology (Section 4), which details the questionnaire design, data collection, and analysis. Then, the results will be described in Section 5. The paper concludes with theoretical and practical implications in Section 6 and future research in Section 7.

At the beginning of 2020, the world witnessed turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 can result in severe physical and mental health issues (e.g., anxiety, stress and depression) (Polizzi et al., 2020) . It has been considered an unprecedented global disaster because of its widespread and harmful effects on both economy and society (Naumov et al., 2021) . Various measures were implemented in many countries to control the spread of the virus, e.g., mobility and travel restrictions, physical distancing, selfisolation, and quarantine (Kucharski et al., 2020 , Wells et al., 2020 . Meanwhile, these measures have also had significant impacts on travel behaviours. With the delays experienced with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, many individuals may experience fear, anxiety, and stress while travelling (Abdullah et al., 2020 , Huang et al., 2020b . Nonetheless, mobility remains a basic need for most individuals as it is necessary to access services and work (Abdullah et al., 2020, Bae and Chang, 2021) . As such, in the context of a pandemic, the perception of infection risk, the perception of safety, and self-protective actions to cope with COVID-19 play an increasingly important role in maintaining daily life, including travelling and working. These factors are essential for public transport users due to the high possibility of COVID-19 infection inside a closed environment such as buses, stations, etc. (Abdullah et al., 2021) . Evidence suggests that public transport remains a necessity even during the pandemic in LMICs due to high travel demand, but the use of public transport could potentially accelerate infection transmission (Musselwhite et al., 2020 , Abdullah et al., 2021 . Thus adherence to infection prevention measures while using PT is vital during the COVID-19 pandemic (Budd and Ison, 2020) .

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed perceptions, preferences, and intentions related to travel (Peters et al., 2020) . The influence of pandemics on travel intention has also been widely explored in many studies (Floyd et al., 2000 , Bae and Chang, 2021 , Lee et al., 2012 . In particular, researchers have discussed various influential factors that impact travel decision making and behavioural intention during a pandemic, such as perceived risk (Huang et al., 2020a) , perceived severity of the disease (Li et al., 2020) , and the prevention behaviour of travellers (Hartjes et al., 2009) . The intention to use PT during a pandemic while adhering to safety instructions has also been of interest. The intention is generally predicted by attitudes, awareness, responsibility, and difficulty (Abdullah et al., 2021) . During a pandemic, issues related to perceived safety, perceived risk, and personal protection are always the top priorities of travellers when making travel decisions and will accordingly influence their intentions to choose public transport (Abdullah et al., 2021) .

A vital scenario to consider is when the virus has been successfully suppressed in a jurisdiction for a significant period. In such circumstances, whether people feel safe and confident to travel using a particular mode and what affects their attitudes and travel intentions are critical to understanding the cognitive and affective process of behaviours during a period of infection suppression. We theorised that in a pandemic, potential travellers would have knowledge about the virus and then consider related health risks before their trips, which might be more important than other kinds of risks. Accordingly, it is needed to define the health risk coping process in the attitude and behaviour towards travelling. More information about these propositions is presented in the below discussion (section 2.3) of health risk perception in travel decision-making and the foundational theory of Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS) (Lazarus Richard, 1991) .

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) originated from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), in which the behavioural intention was determined by attitude and subjective norm (Ajzen, 1985) . Based on TRA, Ajzen (1985) developed the TPB by adding perceived behavioural control as another determinant of behavioural intention to deal with the lack of non-volitional factors in TRA. Therefore, the behavioural intention could be predicted by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control in the TPB. The attitude was defined as a "person's degree of favourableness or favourableness with respect to a psychological object" (Ajzen and Fishbein, 2000) . Attitude is usually developed by behavioural beliefs central to consumer decision-making theory. Subjective norm refers to the perception of social pressure to encourage or discourage someone in making a specific action (Ajzen, 1985) . According to Hsu and Huang (2012) , perceived behavioural control refers to a perceived ability to perform a particular behaviour.

A literature review showed that the TPB had been widely utilised in different areas (e.g., e-commerce, psychology, education, medicine, tourism, and transport). Moreover, the TBP has been extended by adding other constructs to enhance its explanatory power to predict an individual's behavioural intention in various specific contexts (Fu, 2021 , Kim et al., 2018 , Chen, 2016 . Notably, multiple studies have applied the TPB and its extended models to predict and explain diverse behaviours in the transport context. For example, Heath and Gifford (2002) identified predictive factors that explain the behavioural intention of using public transport in Canada, including original constructs from the TPB and other constructs such as social norms, moral norms, and environmental concerns. The studies of Haldar and Goel (2019) and Septiani et al. (2017) provided further insight into predicting behavioural intentions to use ride-sourcing services by integrating the TPB and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Studies on the behavioural intention of using ride-sharing applications were also conducted in many LMICs (i.e., Malaysia (Choong and Goh, 2021) , Bangladesh (Karim et al., 2020) , Iran (Akbari et al., 2020) , and Hong Kong (Lee et al., 2018)) by considering various additional influential constructs in TPB such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, safety risk, perceived trust or perceived usability.

The Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS) was developed by Lazarus (1991) to explain the causal link between health and external and internal events for humans. Such events were identified as stressful life events (Brown et al., 1991) that enabled people to find ways to deal with situations (Ursin and Eriksen, 2004) . The theory also explained that stress triggered a person's cognitive processes, causing as an outcome of health-risk perception in this study. According to Folkman (1997) , coping was the ability to create and maintain psychological health despite living in a problematic condition. Thus, it was associated with better psychological adjustment outcomes (Smith et al., 1997) . Coping was influenced by individual appraisals of threats and pre-designed coping options (Ryan and Carr, 2010) . It was also considered a process that reduced uncertainty and complexity (Lantermann, 1983) . In the literature, problem-focused coping can be understood from two perspectives. The first one is problem-solving strategies, defined as the individuals' ability to seek and process problem-related information (Grunig and Grunig, 2008, Grunig, 2006) . In complex situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant amount of information sharing and well-developed information appraisal skills are required. According to Miller et al. (1989) , problem-solving strategies help to make situations more predictable, making travellers' choices more explicit. The second one is self-protection strategies which help travellers protect themselves or their health (Homburg and Stolberg, 2006) . As such, problem-focused coping could be considered as a hierarchical-order construct including two dimensions: problem-solving and selfprotection. However, existing measurements of problem-focused coping have not yet adequately captured the multi-dimensionality of this construct (DeFranco and Morosan, 2017). As a result, the present study empirically tests the second-order measurement model of problem-focused coping intention. Then, it investigates its role in forming usage intention among ride-sourcing passengers during COVID-19.

In the present study, problem-focused coping is formed by two dimensions: problem-solving and selfprotection. Problem-solving strategies are crucial in shaping positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards travelling during a pandemic (Miller et al., 1989) . Self-protection intentions have been explored in the field of public health as well as environmental behaviours (Cho et al., 2013 , Wang et al., 2019 ). In tourism research, self-protection intentions have also received significant attention. Studies focusing on tourists' intentions to adopt precautionary actions in different travelling contexts have been carried out, e.g., during the pandemic (Zheng et al., 2021 , Su et al., 2021b , in crowded areas (Lu & Wei, 2019), in a national park (Wang et al., 2018) . Thus, problem-focused coping is an essential factor that impacts people's attitudes and behavioural intentions in an uncertain condition. From the above discussion, problem-focused coping is hypothesised to influence passengers' attitudes and behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 infection suppression as follows:

H1: Problem-focused coping has a direct influence on attitudes towards ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 suppression H2: Problem-focused coping has a direct influence on behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 suppression

The perceived virus infection risk refers to the "identification of health-related problems varying from infectious viral diseases to global pandemics". It is considered a significant risk in a health-related crisis (Peattie et al., 2005 , Jonas et al., 2011 . According to Rosenstock (1974) , people with elevated perceived J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f health risk tend to engage in health-protective behaviours to deal with the risk. Additionally, previous studies have indicated that perceived risk directly affects attitude and behavioural intention (Ajzen, 1985 , Quintal et al., 2010 . These relationships have been investigated in various disciplines such as ecommerce (Belkhamza and Wafa, 1970) , banking (Fadare, 2015) , marketing (Bhukya and Singh, 2015) , tourism (Jonas et al., 2011) , and transport (Wan et al., 2016 , Oviedo-Trespalacios et al., 2021 . Notably, in the context of transport, a number of empirical studies have confirmed the impact of perceived risk on travellers' attitudes and behavioural intentions to use ridesourcing services and ride-sharing services , Wan et al., 2016 , Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021a . For example, Wan et al. (2016) confirmed the direct effect of perceived risk on customers' intentions to use Uber services in tourism destinations. A negative relationship between perceived risk and a consumer's intention to use a ride-sharing service was also found in the study of Wang et al. (2020) . In the context of a pandemic, perceived infection risk is considered a unique element that might impact the traveller's problem-focused coping, attitudes, and behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services. Therefore, based on the literature, the present study proposes the following hypotheses:

According to the TPB, subjective norms, attitude, and perceived behavioural control are antecedents that directly positively impact behavioural intention (Ajzen, 1985) . These relationships are confirmed in many prior studies with different contexts. In the transport context, various studies have indicated that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control are key factors influencing passengers' intentions towards public transport (Zailani et al., 2016) or ride-sourcing services (Choong and Goh, 2021, Weng et al., 2017) . This study will test the effects of the original TPB constructs on passengers' intention to use ride-sourcing services after the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the following hypotheses were proposed:

H7: Attitude has a direct influence on behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services following a period of COVID-19 suppression

Finally, a research model that integrated the original TPB constructs (e.i., subjective norms, attitude and perceived behavioural control) with problem-focused coping and perceived virus infection risk was proposed, as shown in Figure 1 . The two additional constructs are hypothesised to impact attitude and J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f behavioural intention directly. In the developed model, problem-focused coping is operationalised as a formative second-order construct formed by the two dimensions of first-order constructs: problem-solving and self-protection. 

A questionnaire was designed to collect the data following the proposed hypotheses and encompassed three sections. The first part introduced participants to the scope and objectives of this study. The second section contained 31 attitudinal statements used to measure the seven constructs. Particularly, 18 items were adapted from Lee et al. (2012) to measure attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SNO), perceived behavioural control (PBC), and behavioural intention (BIN) to use ride-sourcing services after the pandemic compared to before the pandemic. Perceived virus infection risk (PVI) was obtained through 3 statements adapted from Dolnicar (2005) . Six and four items introduced in Homburg and Stolberg (2006) and Régner et al. (2018) were used to measure problem-solving (PRS) and self-protection (SEP), respectively. Participants were asked to provide their responses to the items based on a 7-point Likert scale ('strongly disagree' -'strongly agree'). The third and final part of the questionnaire requested the respondents' socio-demographic information (i.e., gender, age, education level, occupation, and monthly The authors originally designed the questionnaire in English before translating it into Vietnamese. Five transport experts reviewed the translation to ensure its quality. Any notes and discrepancies in the feedback were carefully addressed. The improved questionnaire was subsequently pilot tested by 50 undergraduate students at a university in Da Nang. Some minor wording errors were reported and corrected to produce the final version.

Face-to-face-based recruitment was implemented to undertake self-administered surveys from 12 July to 24 July 2020. Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam, was chosen as a research context for this study. On 24 July 2020, Vietnam marked more than three months without any identified community transmission (Nong et al., 2021) . During the survey, ten research officers were divided into two groups to seek potential candidates at places with high demand for taxis and ride-sourcing services, such as shopping centres, hospitals, and airports. Surveyors randomly approached people to introduce the survey's objectives before inviting them to participate in it. Respondents received a 20,000 VND-prepaid mobile card (about one USD) as an incentive for their participation. Of 562 questionnaires distributed, 540 were eligible for further analyses, leading the valid response rate to reach a relatively high level of 96.1%. Twenty-two responses were excluded due to several reasons such as outlier values, pattern answers, overly fast responses, or missing data in some critical variables.

According to Hair et al. (2011) and Goodhue et al. (2012) , data for a PLS-SEM model should be at least five to ten times the number of items questioned to make sure that the PLS-SEM test, which was a statistical test's probability of avoiding type II errors or false negatives, achieved an acceptable level of power (usually 0.8). With a 31-item questionnaire, the minimum sample size of this study per the rule mentioned above is 310. With 540 responses collected, the sample was more than adequate for this study. Table 1 provides information about the means (M), standard deviation (SD), excess kurtosis, and skewness of constructs' measurement items. The obtained data were confirmed to have normal distributions since all items' skewness, and kurtosis values were in the normal range (±2) recommended by George and Mallery (2010) . 

Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares -Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), which has been developed recently (Khan et al., 2019) but demonstrated as an effective and popular alternative to SEM for transport-specific research (Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021c , Su et al., 2021a , Friman et al., 2020 , Rehman Khan and Yu, 2021 . The PLS-SEM approach was appropriate for the present study. This method J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f can consider both direct and indirect causal relationships across constructs in the proposed conceptual structure, requiring a (relatively) small sample size. SmartPLS 3.0 was used to estimate the parameters of the adopted model.

Researchers have created more sophisticated PLS-SEM models with second-order constructs (reflective or formative measurement models). Most studies in transport have focused on second-order constructs with a reflective measurement. There has been limited research and practical examples of estimating formative second-order constructs. In the current paper, the problem-focused coping construct was funnelled into a formative second-order construct. This model makes the path model more parsimonious and allows researchers to enhance the content comprised by a specific construct (Cong, 2016) . Table 2 shows that the sample was generally balanced in gender with a slightly higher share of females (51.3%). The average age of respondents was approximately 33 years old (M = 32.9, SD = 12.0). Regarding the education-based distribution, nearly three-fourths of respondents (75.7%) had a university degree, 12.6% had a college, and 11.7% had a high school. Respondents working full time (38.2%) and or studying/students (34.4%) were the dominant groups in the sample when considering occupation. Regarding income, the lowest income earners (<5 million VND, 37.8%) were almost three times more prevalent than the highest income earners (≥15 million VND, 13.5%). 

The first-order measurement model was initially evaluated by testing the reliability and validity of the constructs. Particularly, internal consistency among the components was tested based on Cronbach's alpha (CA) value, while convergence validity was assessed using factor loadings, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). The results from Table 3 indicated that all first-order constructs were reliable and valid as the loading factor of each measurement item, the CA, CR, and AVE values of each construct were above the recommended cut-off values of 0.7, 0.7, 0.7, 0.5, respectively (Fornell and Larcker, 1981, Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994) . (Fornell and Larcker, 1981) .

On the other hand, Henseler et al. (2015, p. 117) proposed the superior performance of the HTMT method using Monte Carlo simulation. They found that HTMT achieved higher specificity and sensitivity rates (97% to 99%) than the . HTMT values closed to 1 indicated a lack of discriminant validity. Using the HTMT method, the discriminant validity was also achieved as all of the HTMT values were below the 0.85 benchmark suggested by previous scholars (Table 5) . 

The second-order construct, problem-focused coping (PFC), was formed from two first-order constructs, including problem-solving (PRS) and self-protection (SEP). Table 6 showed that all attributes of the J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f higher-order construct have the value of variance inflation factor (VIF) were under the cut-off value of 5.0. According to Hair et al. (2010) , the results indicated no multicollinearity problem among subconstructs. They supported the formative nature of PFC, confirming the satisfactory reliability for the second-order measurement model. PRS had a greater influence on PFC than SEP with the outer weight of 0.687 (t = 10.434) compared to 0.399 (t = 5.352). 

Before testing the hypotheses, the structural model was evaluated using bootstrapping (5,000 iterations). This procedure can be applied to measure the model's fitness and assess the significance of indicators and coefficient paths (Chin et al., 2008) . The PLS-SEM model fit is typically evaluated using standard root mean square residual (SRMR) and the Normed Fit Index (NFI). In the present study, the SRMR value (0.055) was below the 0.08 benchmark suggested by Sinkovics et al. (2016) and the NFI value (0.824) was higher than the 0.80 benchmark proposed by Hu and Bentler (1998) , indicating the good model fit.

The value of R 2 of each endogenous construct was adopted to assess the predictive accuracy and represent the degree of variance (Hair et al., 2019) . R 2 values of ATT, PFC and BIN were 23.8%, 20.6% and 31.7%, respectively. Approximately 32% of BI variance can be described by SNO, PFC, ATT, PVI and PBC. Additionally, the value of Q 2 , which was determined via the blindfolding procedure, was used to check predictive relevance. The findings showed that Q 2 of ATT, PFC and BIN were 0.137, 0.167 and 0.241, respectively. The positive values of Q 2 (> 0) indicated that the predictive prevalence of all endogenous variables in the developed model was appropriate (Henseler et al., 2009 ).

J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Notes: ns non-significant, ***p < 0.01, **p < 0.05, *p < 0.1 The indirect and total impacts of constructs on BIN were also shown in Table 7 . The indirect impact between PFC and BIN via ATT was confirmed with ß' PFC  BIN = 0.131, t = 4.979, p = <0.001. Similarly, PVI was found to indirectly effect BIN via PFC and ATT (ß' PVI  BIN = 0.127, t = 4.913, p = <0.001). Among five constructs influencing BIN, PFC and ATT had the strongest total impacts on BIN with  PFC  BIN = 0.279, t = 5.817, p = <0.001 and  ATT  BIN = 0.269, t = 5.434, p = <0.023, respectively. They were followed by SNO and PBC. The total impact of PVI on BIN was the lowest ( PVI  BIN = 0.096, t = 2.271, p = <0.023).

Some theoretical implications could be inferred from the results of this study. First, the findings of this study confirmed the utility of TPB as a theoretical framework when assessing the behavioural intention of PT passengers following a period of COVID-19 suppression. All three original TPB constructs, i.e., including attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, directly and positively influenced passengers' behavioural intention as hypothesised. Attitude had a more considerable impact on the intention to use ride-sourcing than subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. The role of attitude as the strongest predictor of behavioural intention was in line with most past studies in the transport context, which indicated that increasing the attitude of travellers towards public transport would significantly increase their intention to use PT (Li et al., 2015, Heath and Gifford, 2002) . However, there have also been several studies that found that attitude had the weakest effect among primary TPB constructs (Juschten et al., 2019 , Wang et al., 2016 or a non-significant impact on behavioural intention (Juschten et al., 2019, Dirgahayani and Sutanto, 2020) . In addition, the positive effects of subjective norms and perceived behavioural control on intention were also confirmed to be statistically significant in this study. This was consistent with the main assumptions of Ajzen's TPB (Ajzen, 1985) . However, the links between subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and behaviour intention were sometimes not well established in previous studies, particularly in Western contexts (Sparks, 2007) . This could be due to the difference in culture among countries, where Asian countries tend to be more collectivistic. For instance, people from collectivistic cultures could be more influenced by social norms than people from dominantly individualistic cultures.

Second, using a two-stage hierarchical method in the PLS-SEM approach demonstrated that problemfocused coping is a multi-faceted construct with two dimensions: problem-solving and self-protection. The present study built from previous research by Lee et al. (2012) , which considered problem-focused coping only as personal protective measures (self-protection) and extended it to be more comprehensive.

In the current research, as the global pandemic could cause stress for travellers, problem-solving was empirically tested as another facet forming the complexity in travellers' psychology towards coping intention before they made travel decisions with ride-sourcing services. Problem-focused coping was found to have both direct and indirect effects (via attitude) on behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f services. Our findings revealed that attitude partially mediated the causal link between problem-focused coping and behavioural intention.

Third, The present study considered the relevance of perceived virus infection risk with problem-focused coping, attitude, and behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services. Perceived virus infection risk was a significant determinant of problem-focused coping. This finding extended the results from Lee et al.'s (2012) study, which uncovered the direct influence of knowledge about a disease on the intervention behaviour. This relationship was confirmed in the ride-sourcing service context, contributing to understanding how travellers' perceived virus infection risk and problem-focused coping affect attitudes and behavioural intention. While perceived virus infection risk significantly influenced problem-focused coping directly, the links between this construct and attitude and behavioural intention were not confirmed. Problem-focused coping was found to play a fully mediating role in the relationship between perceived virus infection risk perception and behavioural intention. A passenger who had a high level of perceived viral infection risk could increase their problem-focused coping, leading to an increase in the intention to use ride-sourcing services.

The findings of this study describe ride-sourcing ridership after COVID-19 infection suppression. As many countries have experienced and will experience periods of infection suppression, the results of this study could have global relevance. According to our findings, travellers' attitude towards ride-sourcing services was positively affected by problem-focused coping. If travellers had a high level of problemfocused coping, they would form a more positive attitude towards ride-sourcing services, increasing travellers' intention to use ride-sourcing services. As such, improving problem-solving strategies and encouraging self-protection through health promotion and education efforts are needed (Shen et al., 2020) . Many respondents in this study were university students (34.4%) and university educated (75.7%). University student support services could play an essential role in supporting students who already possed problem-focused coping (Julal, 2013) . Also, this study shows the need for reliable, accessible and convenient video/telephone support during the COVID-19 pandemic to promote self-protection (Bull et al., 2016) .

Similarly, problem-focused coping has been shown to improve with cognitive behavioural therapy for stressful jobs such as emergency responders (Nam et al., 2013) , and mindfulness training with students (de Vibe et al., 2018) . When combined with high distraction (e.g., hobbies, entertainment), problemfocused coping in a high job stress environment leads to better work performance and lower stress responses among blue-collar workers (Shimazu and Schaufeli, 2007) . This means that the use of mindfulness training, cognitive behavioural therapy, or even intentional distractions could yield improvements in problem-focused coping. In addition, information about COVID-19 and safety guidelines should be better provided to travellers while making choices through online (e.g., platforms, social networks) or offline communication channels (e.g., flyers, posters).

Subjective norms were found to influence ride-sourcing travellers' behavioural intention significantly. In Vietnam, many aspects of daily life are relatively dominated by collectivism, and social pressure plays a critical role in impacting users' behaviour (Lin et al., 2020) . Relatives' or friends' assessments of ride-J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f sourcing usage during the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly affected the ride-sourcing users' intentions. Therefore, ride-sourcing firms should pay more attention to building public confidence in using ride-sourcing services. For instance, they should apply strict measures to ensure their drivers and passengers follow the safety guidelines (e.g., passengers must sit in the back and drivers have to wear a mask).

Additionally, our findings indicated that passengers' perceived behavioural control was an essential construct in the proposed model. If ride-sourcing services were easily accessible to passengers, they would have more usage intention towards the services. For example, this study revealed that most potential ride-sourcing customers were low-and medium-income users, so competitive prices could significantly influence passengers' decision-making. If the price was more affordable, the intention to use ride-sourcing services would increase.

The present paper aimed to understand ride-sourcing passengers' intention to use ride-sourcing services during the COVID-19 pandemic by incorporating two psychological constructsproblem-focused coping and perceived virus infection risk -into the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model. The survey data was collected in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam using paper-based questionnaires. The empirical results revealed that the extended TPB model successfully explained the behavioural intention to use ride-sourcing services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results also indicated that problem-focused coping was the most significant construct in generating passengers behavioural intentions towards ride-sourcing services. Thus, our findings highlighted the importance of understanding the impact of protective measures against COVID-19, filling a gap in the existing literature on ride-sourcing passenger behaviour. From a managerial perspective, our results can be used by ride-sourcing service providers to develop efficient marketing strategies to enhance the intentions to use the services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current study has some limitations that are needed to be considered in later research. Firstly, data collection was conducted in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), when COVID-19 infections were well controlled (no new cases in the community were detected during the preceding three months). Further research should be carried out in other nations with different cultures (e.g., western countries), at other pandemic stages, or after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended globally. Secondly, the TBP model was extended by incorporating two factors: problem-focused coping and perceived virus infection risk. It is unclear if the results from this research would be maintained in other transport & health contexts. Additionally, other factors that might influence passengers' intentions in the post-pandemic (e.g., personality, trust in media or culture) should be investigated in future studies to extend further the model presented in this research. Fourthly, the added factors were adapted from tourism studies. Measurement scales of these factors should be further developed and validated in the context of transport in future research. Fifthly, the present research relies on self-reported data, which do not necessarily describe the participants' actual behaviour. Further external validation is needed to determine the predictive capability of the extended TPB model developed in this research. Finally, COVID-19 infection can be more severe given an individual comorbidities (Rod et al., 2020) . Therefore, it is likely that the behaviour varies according to the health of the individuals and their close ones. Further work needs to consider passengers' differences 

 The study provides an understanding of ride-hailing passengers' behavioural intentions following a period of COVID-19 suppression  TPB model was extended with two constructs, including perceived virus infection risk and problem-focused coping  Problem-focused coping has the highest total effect on the intention to use ride-sourcing services  Attitude partially mediates the linkage between problem-focused coping and behavioural intention J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Journal Pre-proof 

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Oscar Oviedo-Trespalacios' contribution to the manuscript was partially funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award [DE200101079] and the Queensland Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC).

Authors state no conflict of interest.J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f