Developing fuzzy performance management approach for sharing economy with lowering social losses

Purpose – With the gradual maturity of the Internet of Things, various smart mobile applications (apps) have emerged, including smart transportation apps, that facilitate public carpooling and efficient shared transportation. This paper proposes a fuzzy performance evaluation and management model for urban bicycle-sharing operations with the objectives of lowering the bicycle failure rate and the social losses of the sharing economy. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes a performance evaluation index to monitor failure rates in urban bicycle-sharing. We derive the confidence interval of this index and define the triangular fuzzy number and its fuzzy membership function according to this confidence interval. We use these to propose a fuzzy evaluation and improvement testing model for urban bicycle-sharing. A practical application illustrates the efficacy of the proposed approach. Findings – Smart transportation apps help reduce the number of vehicles on the road, thereby decreasing traffic jams as well as total carbon emissions. Failures in urban bicycle-sharing operations thus cause both economic and environmental social losses. The proposed approach is aimed at enhancing the quality and reliability of bicycle-sharing to reduce losses in the sharing economy. Originality/value – This paper presents a comprehensive fuzzy performance evaluation and management model for urban bicycle-sharing operations. It is among the first to focus on reducing the bicycle failure rate and associated social losses. The model aims to improve operational performance and diminish various social losses in the sharing economy.