Changes in the perception of telematics technology by road transport companies: an empirical analysis in 2020-21

We present a novel study concerning the attitudes of road transport enterprises towards a broad application of telematics in operational management in road transportation. The study aims to assess telematics application in road transport and its changes over time while showing the factors most likely to determine the systems’ use. Unobserved categories defined in the technology acceptance model (TAM) are adjusted to measure perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitudes toward using telematics systems by road transport managers. The study is based on 323 transport enterprises analyzed in two waves in 2020 and 2021. The use of two different time points is motivated by an observed increase in the digitalization of transport documents caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical findings support the TAM’s usefulness in evaluating IT in transport business management. The findings also reveal that the significantly increased telematics use in 2020 was observed while it was endured. The results are checked for robustness and used for simulations. The study compares managers’ behaviors over time and simulates the effect of individual (observed) variables on unobserved TAM categories.