Two psychological pathways to mode-ambiguous riding behaviour among Indonesian E-bike users: The roles of safety attitude and riding confidence.

The rapid growth of electric bicycle (e-bike) use has created a psychologically complex riding context, as ambiguity in vehicle status may shape how riders interpret their role and behave in traffic. This study defines this pattern as Mode-Ambiguous Riding Behaviour (MARB), a concept distinct from general risky riding behaviour because it refers specifically to risk-related decisions arising from uncertainty about e-bike classification and appropriate riding behaviour. Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines how socio-psychological and social-environmental stimuli influence MARB through safety attitude and riding confidence. Data were collected from 551 Indonesian e-bike users using a questionnaire and analysed with SEM-PLS. The results show that Safety Attitude (SA) has a significant negative effect on MARB (β = -0.365; p-value < 0.001), while Riding Confidence (RC) has a significant positive effect (β = 0.437; p-value < 0.001). To assess the influence of respondents' demographic and e-bike usage characteristics on MARB, demographic of the respondent were included as control variables. These findings highlight the psychological role of risk evaluation and self-appraisal under vehicle ambiguity.