Nordhoff S, Lehtonen E
Department Transport & Planning, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
Electric Vehicle Research Center, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 7;15(1):1091. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-84776-4.
Automated vehicle acceptance (AVA) research has grown substantially in the past few years. There is a paucity of research on the role of the big five personality traits on attitudes towards automated vehicles (AVs) and AVA. This is a critical shortcoming given that personality is considered a critical factor explaining technology adoption. Our major theoretical contribution is the integration of the most popular personality measure - the big five - and one of the most influential technology acceptance models - Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). A questionnaire was administered to 9,339 respondents from nine countries to predict the behavioral intention to use conditionally automated vehicles (CondAVs). The original UTAUT2 was extended by trust and driver engagement and the big five personality traits openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the direct effects of these constructs on behavioral intention and the indirect effects of the personality traits on the independent constructs of the extended UTAUT2. The results have shown positive effects of social influence, trust, and performance expectancy on the behavioral intention to use CondAVs. Most of the hypotheses pertaining to the role of the personality traits on the UTAUT2 constructs were supported, but the effects were relatively small (< 0.25). Our findings support the usefulness of UTAUT2 in evaluating the success of AVs, providing crucial insights into the factors driving the acceptance of CondAVs. The cross-country analysis provides further insights into the role of an individual's personality for AVA. Our study yields important implications for practitioners. Given the small effect sizes of personality, designing CondAVs around the personalities of their customers during development and commercialization may be ineffective to promote trust and acceptance.
在过去几年中，自动驾驶车辆验收（AVA）研究有了显著增长。关于大五人格特质在对自动驾驶车辆（AV）态度和AVA方面作用的研究较少。鉴于人格被认为是解释技术采用的关键因素，这是一个严重的缺陷。我们的主要理论贡献是将最流行的人格测量方法——大五人格——与最具影响力的技术接受模型之一——技术接受与使用统一理论（UTAUT2）进行整合。对来自九个国家的9339名受访者进行了问卷调查，以预测使用有条件自动驾驶车辆（CondAV）的行为意图。原始的UTAUT2通过信任和驾驶员参与以及大五人格特质开放性、尽责性、外向性、宜人性和神经质进行了扩展。应用结构方程模型来检验这些构念对行为意图的直接影响以及人格特质对扩展UTAUT2独立构念的间接影响。结果表明，社会影响、信任和绩效期望对使用CondAV的行为意图有积极影响。与人格特质在UTAUT2构念中作用相关的大多数假设得到了支持，但影响相对较小（<0.25）。我们的研究结果支持UTAUT2在评估AV成功方面的有用性，为推动CondAV接受的因素提供了关键见解。跨国分析进一步深入了解了个体人格对AVA的作用。我们的研究对从业者具有重要意义。鉴于人格的影响大小较小，在开发和商业化过程中围绕客户的人格设计CondAV可能在促进信任和接受方面效果不佳。
