The governance of dockless bike-sharing schemes: A systemic review of peer-reviewed academic journal papers between 2016 and 2019

Abstract

Since dockless bicycle-sharing systems (DBSS) first arose in China in 2016, studies have examined their governance. However, there has been no comprehensive review of the literature on DBSS. This paper presents the first systematic review of the burgeoning literature on the governance of DBSS. It maps key research themes, identifies research trends and provides a deeper understanding of the governance literature on DBSS. We searched the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases to identify 95 papers written in English or Chinese between 2016 and 2019 that address the governance of DBSS. A thematic coding of these papers was supported by bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping using the VOSviewer. More papers are written in Chinese rather than English, focusing on Chinese cities. Although the time range of our literature search was between 2016 and 2019, the first paper was published in 2017. Four key themes in the governance of DBSSs were identified within the papers, and over time the papers shifted their focus from problem-finding and problem-defining to problem-solving. Discussion of the inherent characteristics of the sharing economy and the externalities underpinning the governance of DBSS (Theme 1) and rebalancing problems for DBSS (Theme 2) first arose in early 2017, whilst discussions of the government regulation of DBSS (Themes 3) and the cross-boundary governance models underpinning DBSS (Themes 4) first arose in mid-2017. This paper concludes with a discussion of the identified themes and trends in the context of the broader literature on bicycle sharing and identifies opportunities for further research.

Keywords

• Dockless bicycle-sharing systems (DBSS)
• Sharing economy
• Rebalancing
• Government regulation
• Collaborative governance