%0 Journal Article %A Zheng, Yubing %A Ma, Yang %A Cheng, Jianchuan %D 2019 %T Effects of personality traits and sociocognitive determinants on risky riding behaviors among Chinese e-bikers %U https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Effects_of_personality_traits_and_sociocognitive_determinants_on_risky_riding_behaviors_among_Chinese_e-bikers/9887525 %R 10.6084/m9.figshare.9887525.v1 %2 https://tandf.figshare.com/ndownloader/files/17768231 %K E-bike %K personality traits %K risk perception %K safety attitude %K risky riding %X

Objective: In the last few decades, the growing popularity of e-bikes in China has raised public concerns regarding an increasing number of fatalities and injuries involving e-bikes. Although previous studies have explored the impacts of personality on driving behaviors of automobile drivers and motorcyclists, little attention has been paid to safety-related issues involving e-bikers from the aspect of their personality traits and sociocognitive variables. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of personality on e-bikers’ risk-taking behaviors and test the effectiveness of the model proposed by Ulleberg and Rundmo (2003) among e-bikers.

Methods: Four hundred and five Chinese e-bikers aged 16 to 61 completed a self-administrated questionnaire, which included questions investigating their demographics, personality traits (anger, altruism, sensation-seeking, normlessness), risk perceptions, safety attitudes, and risky riding behaviors. The reliability and validity of all scales were first examined through reliability analysis and principal component analysis, respectively, and a structural equation model was developed and fitted to test the relationships among e-bikers’ personality traits, risk perceptions, safety attitudes, and risky riding.

Results: A satisfactory level of reliability and validity was reached for all variables. Anger, altruism, sensation-seeking, and normlessness were all significantly related to e-bikers’ risk perceptions and unsafe riding, and only altruism correlated significantly to safety attitude. For 2 sociocognitive variables, safety attitudes was directly and negatively related to respondents’ risky riding, and risk perception only exerted impacts on riding behaviors by affecting safety attitudes.

Conclusions: Personality traits of e-bikers impacted their riding behaviors both directly and indirectly, and sociocognitive variables played an intermediate role in the personality–behavior relationship. The results revealed the importance of personality traits in influencing e-bikers’ risky riding and also verified the applicability of the personality–behavior model proposed by Ulleberg and Rundmo (2003) among e-bikers. The findings of this study may provide an empirical basis for evidence-based safety interventions for e-bikers in China.

%I Taylor & Francis