Passengers as defenders: Unveiling the role of customer-company identification in the trust-customer citizenship behaviour relationship within ride-hailing context

Ride-hailing platforms such as Didi, Uber, and Lyft have changed the travel industry. Promoting the passengers' trust in platform and customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) is both challenging and important. This study employed a mixed-methods design, consisting of 21 interviews and 351 online surveys, to develop and examine the trust-CCB model in the ride-hailing context. Our findings reveal that platforms can foster passengers' trust by sending service-related signals (i.e., service quality and structure assurance) and a firm-related signal (i.e., platform reputation). Customer-company identification (CCI) mediates the relationship between passengers' trust and CCB, where passengers engage in CCB by providing recommendations, exhibiting forgiving behaviour, providing feedback, and participating in research in ride-hailing. Additionally, firm-related signals, including platform size and reputation, enhance the positive relationship between trust and CCI. These findings contribute to the body of knowledge on trust, CCB, and signaling theory, providing potential practical implications for ride-hailing platforms.