INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION RATE

Unit: Marketing Research

Class: MR-T223WSB-4……………………………………………
Group: 5…………………………………………………………….
Assignment: Research proposal…………………………………….
Individual contribution rate:

Contribution rate
N.o Student full name Student ID Signature
(%)

1 Huỳnh Thành Phát 22003291 100 Phát

2 Nguyễn Quan Tú Nhi 21001208 100 Nhi

3 Lê Hồng Thịnh 22004185 100 Thịnh

4 Nguyễn Vũ Thời 21001363 100 Thời

5 Nguyễn Xuân Thủy 21000518 100 Thủy

6 Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Phương 21000796 100 Phương

Note:

→ The contribution rate must be discussed and agreed by all group members.
→ The maximum contribution rate is 100% indicating that the student fully
contributes to the assignment.

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

TOPIC:

Factors affecting students' choice for ride-hailing application in Vietnam.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The rise of ride-hailing services in Vietnam has provided students a convenient and affordable

transportation option. However, there is limited research on the factors influencing Vietnamese

students' ride-hailing choices. This research proposal seeks to address this gap by conducting a

survey of Vietnamese university students to understand their choices for ride-hailing services. The

survey will collect data on students' demographic information, their transportation needs, and their

perceptions of different ride-hailing services. The data will be analyzed to identify the factors that

are most important to students when choosing a ride-hailing service. The findings of this research

will be valuable to ride-hailing companies, policymakers, and other stakeholders who are interested

in understanding the needs of Vietnamese students and improving the availability and quality of

ride-hailing services in Vietnam.

1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND

1.1. Industry Overview

a. The position of the ride-hailing application industry in Vietnam

TTO - In 2014, ride-hailing applications officially launched to the market changed the face

of Vietnam's transportation industry in the context of 4.0 technology development, meeting

the increasing needs of users with more than 20 different platforms according to Dung, 2019

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 (1). Since 2015, the ride-hailing service market in Vietnam has expanded at an average

growth rate of 30-35 per year, reaching a total revenue of 2.4 billion USD by 2021. Globe

Newswire in 2020 (2) also indicates that the Vietnamese ride-hailing application industry

will expand rapidly, creating demand and fierce competition in the transportation field in the

period of 2020-2025. According to Statista (3) - a German company specializing in market

research and consumer statistics- by 2020, Grab, Gojek, and Be are Vietnam's three most

competitive ride-hailing companies, and will own about 99% of the market share. Vietnam's

ride-hailing sector is expected to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of

16% from 2020 to 2025, with revenue expected to reach 4 billion USD by 2024 according to

Atharva, 2021 (4). Vietnamese ride-hailing application companies have transformed

themselves into super-apps in today's breakthrough technology platform, serving the most

essential needs of daily life. In a short time, the ride-hailing application industry also

attracted a large number of customers across the country.

b. The influence of the famous ride-hailing app in the Vietnamese market

- The number of ride-hailing apps in Vietnam has increased significantly. In 2014, there were

only a handful of ride-hailing apps in Vietnam. However, by 2022, there were over 20

different ride-hailing apps operating in the country. VietnamPlus in 2021 (5) stated that this

growth has been driven by several factors, including the increasing availability of

smartphones, the growing demand for convenient and affordable transportation, and the

government's supportive regulatory environment. Some of the several specific impacts that

these ride-hailing applications have made in the Vietnam’s market include: Increased

convenience and affordability for transportation demand; Reduced traffic congestion;

Created new jobs in the transportation industry; Changing consumers’ perception about

means of transportation; while challenged the traditional taxi industry and sparked

regulatory debate.

c. The number of ride-hailing apps in Vietnam has increased significantly

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 - Other popular ride-hailing apps in Vietnam include Gojek, Be, and FastGo. Grab was

founded in 2012 and is Vietnam’s most popular ride-hailing app in 2022. In 2020, Grab

completed over 62 million rides in Vietnam, representing 75% of the total market according

to Vietnam Briefing News in 2021 (4). Other worth-mentioning ride-hailing apps in

Vietnam include Gojek, Be, and FastGo.

d. Vietnamese people's preference for using ride-hailing apps

- Convenience: Ride-hailing apps are generally more convenient than traditional taxis.

Customers can book a ride with a few taps on their smartphone, and they can track the real-

time progress of the ride.

- Affordability: Ride-hailing apps are often more affordable than traditional taxis. This is

because of the ride-hailing app competition, which drives down prices.

- Safety: Ride-hailing apps offer a high level of safety. Customers can see the driver's profile

and share the ride’s real-time details with friends or family, and they can also rate the

quality after the ride.

- The influence of ride-hailing apps in the Vietnamese market has been significant. Ride-

hailing apps have made it easier and more affordable for people to get around, and they have

also helped to reduce traffic congestion. In addition, ride-hailing apps have created new jobs

for drivers and other workers in the transportation industry

In conclusion, the ride-hailing industry in Vietnam is still in its early stages of development,

but it has the potential to have a major impact on the country's transportation landscape.

1.2. Establish research problems

The current ride-hailing market in Vietnam is fairly well-liked and extensively used, particularly

among students. This development is due to the advancement of technology as well as various

limitations on traditional ride-hailing and public services. However, the ride-hailing service

industry has become increasingly competitive since many ride-hailing businesses were established,

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 offering unique advantages and standout functions. Additionally, as competing in a service

industry, recruiting and keeping consumers is crucial for ride-hailing enterprises. Thanh (6) stated

that several ride-hailing firms such as Aber, Mai Linh and Uber have had to cease operations due to

inability to obtain market share and compete with other companies. Therefore, identifying the

factors influencing consumer choice is therefore critical for today's ride-hailing companies since it

assists in understanding customer demand, which then helps establish suitable tactics for market

expansion.

1.3. Research objectives

- Identify major factors influencing customers’ choice for ride-hailing applications,

specifically in Vietnam.

- Rank these factors based on their significance when customers consider brands in the

industry.

- Based on these findings, recommendations will be made for brands to improve their

marketing and organization strategy.

- In terms of the scope of the research, the project will be narrowed down to around 60

current students in Ho Chi Minh city with the major goal to find the dominant factor that

influences their brand choice for ride-hailing choice.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Concepts and theories

a. Definitions of key terms

Customer Choice: "Customer choice" is the preference for consumer spending that

maximizes their desire to consume by many factors. It can be measured by many factors that

individuals go through to find the best option that meets their needs and preferences.

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 Besides, it is a decision through the consumer's evaluation process (collecting information,

comparing alternatives, considering pros and cons, and experiences..) among various

options to buy and use a particular product or service. Factors such as income level, cultural

factors, product information, and psychophysiological factors will influence purchasing

decisions. "Customer choice" has great significance in marketing research activities.

On-demand shared ride-hailing service: On-Demand ride-hailing (OSR) is a flexible

alternative to private motor vehicle transportation, allowing passengers to share vehicles and

drivers to their respective destinations. Advantages of OSR include safety, certainty of

arrival time, personalized service, affordability, price transparency and ease of booking, etc.

Moreover, OSR is also considered as an environmentally friendly mode of transport as it

can reduce traffic volume Phuoc et al. (7)

b. Relevant theories

Alternatives Evaluation:

Alternatives Evaluation is the stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer

processes information to choose among alternative brands in the choice set (8). However,

how consumers evaluate purchasing options varies according to the particular consumer and

the unique buying circumstance. People will sometimes conduct little or no evaluation, but

in other cases, they will carefully examine and think logically before making decisions.

Therefore, understanding how customers evaluate each attribute helps in examining the

most influential factors affecting on customer’ brands choice.

Consumer Buying Behavior:

Consumer buyer behavior describes how individuals and households purchase products and

services for personal use, also refers to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer (8). In

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 reality, consumers make choices every day and their purchase decision is influenced by two

main levels of factors, internally and externally (9). The major components of external

influences are culture, social class, reference group, family and household. The second

category of factors is internal influences which affect individual behavior. These factors

consist of demographics, consumer’s knowledge, perception, learning, motivation,

personality, beliefs, attitudes and lifestyles. In addition, the decision of customers is

explained using Lancaster's theory of consumer behavior. The theory states that rather than

the goods or services themselves, it is the characteristics (or attributes) of the goods or

services that impart utility to the customers (10). Therefore, the attributes of both the service

itself and the service provider may have an impact on a consumer's decision to choose a

certain brand when selecting an app-based taxi hailing brand.

2.2. Prior relevant studies

Paper 1: Factors influencing intention to use on-demand shared ride-hailing services

in Vietnam: risk, cost, or sustainability? (Duy Quy Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2022). (7)

This study investigates the impact of psychological factors on passengers' intention to use

OSR services. To achieve this, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used as the

foundation to explain the key concept of customer intention, which was also extended to

perceived risk, price sensitivity, and perceived green value. The sample consisted of 520

ride-hailing passengers in Vietnam. The results confirm the relevance of the original TPB

constructs: attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and social norms. Among the newly

mentioned constructs, the only one that has a detrimental and direct effect on usage

intention is perceived risk, whereas the other constructs, which are price sensitivity and

perceived green value, influence the intention to use ride-hailing services via attitudes.

Aside from that, among consumers with a middle-and high-income demographic, there is a

significant negative association between perceived risk and intention, while this matter is

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 not significant among low-income respondents. The findings from the present paper

provide evidence of the importance of psychosocial factors such as perceptions of risk,

price sensitivity, and sustainability when considering the intention to use on-demand shared

transport services. At the same time, the study uncovered that females are more under the

influence of perceived green value, compared to male counterparts.

Paper 2: What makes passengers continue using and talking positively about ride-

hailing services? The role of the booking app and post-booking service quality. (Duy

Quy Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021) (11)

The current study examines the direct and indirect influences on the perceived quality of

ride-hailing services, including perceived booking app (privacy and security, ease of use,

functionality, design, information accuracy, route detection, and service), as well as

perceived post-booking service quality (reliability, personal, convenience, and tangibility)

based on intended continuous use and customer word of mouth (WOM). Firstly, five of the

seven elements have a favorable and significant influence on the perceived booking app

quality. Particularly, it was discovered that information accuracy was the most crucial

characteristic, followed by route recognition, functionality, and service. Additionally,

security and privacy had no influence on how well people assessed the quality of booking

apps. Second, the results support the important influences of reliability, personability,

convenience, and tangibleness on the perceived post-booking service quality. In addition,

the perceived value (quality, value for money, interest…) also plays a role in encouraging

customers and increasing their intention to continue using, referring to WOM.

Paper 3: Factors influencing customer's loyalty towards ride-hailing taxi services – A

case study of Vietnam: (Duy Quy Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2020). (12)

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 Nowadays, many electronic devices have rapidly adopted numerous human demands from

information gathering, management systems, and application aggregators: Smartphones.

This issue is also analyzed by Nguyen-Phuoc et al. (2020), the author of the article called: “

Factors influencing customer's loyalty towards ride-hailing taxi Services – A case study of

Vietnam”. Additionally, this paper was received in 2019 and published in 2020. Moreover,

the research design used in the article is Quantitative due to the plot points and data shown

in the paper. Besides, the data of this academic paper is collected from a self-administered

questionnaire-based survey and it is also adapted from other survey studies from Weng et al.

(2017), Lai and Chen (2011), Hwang et al. (2019) and Yuksel et al. (2010). The

background of the research study is taken from Vietnam, a developing country, where buses

are the only public transportation service; however, it was not the only common human

transportation vehicle until Grab, an online ride-hailing application, was launched in 2014

and became popular then. Moving to the key concept of the article, the authors were trying

to emphasize the loyalty intention of ride-hailing passengers because, to the writers, it is the

most significant factor leading to long-span budgetary performance. Not only the study is

about factors influencing customer’s choice for this application, but the article also

mentioned how the provision of these services may affect urban mobility resulting in a boost

in local expenditure and government income.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Qualitative research

To approach this matter, depth interviews will be conducted by each member either online

or face-to-face sessions. Each member will hold at least two sessions, which makes the total

number of respondents approximately 10 to 12. The length of each session ranges from

thirty minutes to over an hour. Convenient sampling will be applied to invite the target

respondents, typically students from the age of 16 to 21. The data will be gathered by

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 recorded video clips of the session or audio recording. The main technique we will use to

discover the insight is going to be in the form of probing questions. From these findings, we

are expected to discover major factors that influence student choice for different brands of

ride-hailing applications, and the underlying insight behind customer choice of using the

service. From reviewed journal papers and research, Price, the driver attitude, and safety are

expected to be the main determinants of customer choice for ride-hailing apps.

3.2. Quantitative research

The questionnaire will be used to collect information with the size of the questionnaire

about 100 students in Ho Chi Minh City. This survey will identify factors that influence

customer choice for ride-hailing apps. In addition, this questionnaire also helps to learn

more about the popularity of the use of ride-hailing apps by students. Finally, the answers

to this questionnaire will contribute to the final results of this paper. In terms of data

collecting method, the questionnaire was collected using a self-administered questionnaire

from June 26 to 16 July in Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam. The sample size is expected to be

about 100 respondents. The questionnaire link will be sent out to the chosen respondents via

email, messenger and so on. Participants will be randomly selected and invited to attend if

they confirm that they have used the ride-hailing service before. Those who agree to

participate and are eligible will submit the questionnaire online. And besides, those who are

not eligible to attend will be recorded through it to know the percentage of students who

have never used the ride-hailing service.

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 4. PROJECT TIMELINE:

Task Deadlines Member(s)

1 Deciding the Research Topic 22/05/2023 All

2 Creating outline of Research Proposal 29/05/2023

3 Sharing Draft Proposal for feedback in class 19/06/2023

4 Finish Discussion Guide 08/07/2023

5 Submitting Research Proposal (Part A) 09/07/2023

6 Preparing Discussion Guide for Qualitative Research 26/06/2023

7 Conducting In-depth Interview 13/07/2023

8 Designing Questionnaire for Quantitative Research TBA

9 Sending Questionnaire and receives responses TBA

10 Data Collection and Analyzing TBA

11 Finishing the Research TBA

12 Presentation 07/08/2023

13 Completing the Final written Report TBA

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 5. REFERENCES

1. Dung Thu. Ứng dụng công Nghệ Gọi XE 4.0, BỘ Mặt Ngành Vận Tải Thay đổi [Internet].

2019 [cited 2023 Jul 9]. Available from: https://tuoitre.vn/ung-dung-cong-nghe-goi-xe-4-0-

bo-mat-nganh-van-tai-thay-doi-20190416140358502.htm

2. Vietnam ride-hailing market -growth, trends, and forecast (2020 – 2025) [Internet].

ReportLinker; 2020 [cited 2023 Jul 9]. Available from:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/12/2032339/0/en/Vietnam-Ride-

Hailing-Market-Growth-Trends-and-Forecast-2020-2025.html

3. Nguyen M-N. Topic: Ride-hailing market in Vietnam [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2023 Jul 9].

Available from: https://www.statista.com/topics/8081/ride-hailing-market-in-vietnam/

4. Deshmukh A. Vietnam’s ride hailing industry: Trends, opportunities and risks [Internet].

2021 [cited 2023 Jul 9]. Available from: https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/vietnams-

ride-hailing-industry-trends-opportunities-risks.html/

5. Ride-hailing services face stiff competition: Business: Vietnam+ (vietnamplus) [Internet].

VietnamPlus; 2022 [cited 2023 Jul 9]. Available from:

https://en.vietnamplus.vn/ridehailing-services-face-stiff-competition/224115.vnp

6. Thanh H. Ride-hailing apps: Narrow door slots for Vietnamese businesses [Internet]. Báo

Kinh tế đô thị. 2021. Available from: https://kinhtedothi.vn/ung-dung-goi-xe-khe-cua-hep-

cho-doanh-nghiep-viet.html

7. Nguyen-Phuoc DQ, Su DN, Nguyen MH, Vo NS, Oviedo-Trespalacios O. Factors

influencing intention to use on-demand shared ride-hailing services in Vietnam: Risk, cost

or sustainability? Journal of Transport Geography [Internet]. 2022 Feb [cited 2023 Jul 7] ;

99 (103302). Available from:

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966692322000254#:~:text=On-

demand%20shared%20ride-hailing%20%28OSR%29%20is%20an%20alternative

%20transport,more%20flexible%20than%20buses%20and%20cheaper%20than%20taxis.

DOI:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103302

8. Kotler P, Kotler PT, Armstrong G, Opresnik MO. Principles of marketing. Pearson Higher

Education; 2017: 152-180. Available from:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jINYmyXau_7Lw2TIzhQ4zRXAy-1lidi3/view

9. Mothersbaugh D, Hawkins D. Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. McGraw-

Hill Education; 2015: 24-27. Available from:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y3eEFvPOSWvWfYkLbkIGrm5HYQL03BXh/view

10. Lancaster K. A New Approach to Consumer Theory. Journal of Political Economy

[Internet]. 1966 Apr 1;74(2):132–157. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1086/259131

11. Nguyen-Phuoc DQ, Vo NS, Su DN, Nguyen VH, Oviedo-Trespalacios O. What makes

passengers continue using and talking positively about ride-hailing services? The role of the

booking app and post-booking service quality. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and

Practice [Internet]. 2021 Aug [cited 2023 July 9] ;150:367–84. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856421001610#preview-

section-cited-by

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2021.06.013

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB

 12.Nguyen-Phuoc DQ, Su DN, Tran PTK, Le DTT, Johnson LW. Factors influencing

customer’s loyalty towards ride-hailing taxi services – A case study of Vietnam.

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice [Internet]. 2020 Apr [cited 2023 Jun

18];134:96–112. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856419303131?via%3Dihub

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2020.02.008

6. APPENDIX

* FORMAT

- Font type: Times New Roman, Font size: 12, Line spacing: Double, Margins: 2cm

- Citation & Referencing style: Vancouver

Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le | UEH-ISB