Urban Air Mobility (UAM) holds considerable promise for mitigating urban congestion and addressing environmental challenges. Nonetheless, the extent of its public acceptance remains uncertain. Drawing on Innovation Resistance Theory (IRT), this study integrates trust to examine how innovation barriers influence intention to adopt UAM. We analyzed survey data from 506 South Korean adults (August–September 2024) using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results indicate that usage and value barriers most significantly suppress adoption intention, both directly and indirectly through trust, with trust serving as a selective mediator for these two barriers. Image barriers also exerted a significant direct effect on intention, while cyber and privacy and tradition barriers showed no significant effects. Cyber and privacy, tradition, and image barriers exerted comparatively insignificant effects on trust. The study advances IRT by formalizing trust as an asymmetric mediator and offers smart-tourism stakeholders an evidence-based hierarchy of intervention priorities for accelerating equitable UAM adoption.
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