Information Technology Choice in Mobility Service Ecosystems: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Cities around the globe face mobility-related challenges such as traffic congestion and air and noise pollution caused by the extensive use of private cars. Smart solutions promise to make urban mobility more intelligent, interconnected, and efficient using information technology (IT). This study analyzes IT choice in the service ecosystems of different German transport and tariff associations. Taking a service-dominant logic perspective, we apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in order to identify the configurations of attributes levels characterizing the actors and institutional arrangements of each service ecosystem that are linked to the choice of state-of-the-art IT. Our results reveal that the availability of a high number of car-sharing actors in the service ecosystem is a necessary condition for choosing state-of-the-art IT. Our study guides decision-makers in responding to mobility challenges caused by the predominant usage of the private car and thus contributes to the overarching goal of achieving livable cities