With great power comes great responsibilities – Examining platform-based mechanisms and institutional trust in rideshare services

From the perspective of female passengers, much remains unknown about institutional or platform trust and the sharing economy. The present study was conducted in an emerging economy context to comprehend the significance of institutional trust. The study aimed to develop a dynamic theoretical model incorporating the perceived effectiveness of platform-based institutional structures (PEPIS) as a dependent variable in sharing economy platforms, examine the antecedents of PEPIS and determine how PEPIS affects female passengers' trust in the institution or platform. Different strata of female passengers were targeted using a quota-cum-purposive sampling method. In total, 413 useable responses to a pre-tested survey questionnaire were collected. Our findings contribute to the literature on institutional structures and trust by demonstrating that four market-driven institutional mechanisms directly and significantly influence PEPIS: perceived effectiveness of feedback mechanism, perceived effectiveness of escrow services, perceived effectiveness of provider certification and perceived effectiveness of urgent rescue; PEPIS is directly related to perceived trust in the platform (TRST); the relationships between TRST and the study's outcome variables (subjective well-being, intention to recommend, and continuous usage intention) were also tested and found significant. It was also found that TRST promotes female users' continuous usage intention, intention to recommend and subjective well-being. •Four institutional mechanisms influence perceived effectiveness of platform-based institutional structures (PEPIS).•PEPIS is directly related to institutional trust.•Significant relationship found between institutional trust and outcome variables.•Institutional trust promotes female users' usage intention, intention to recommend and subjective well-being.