Communities of benefit exchange – A new taxonomy of alternative consumption practices

Abstract

The consumer landscape is changing, with traditional behaviours, channels and models of commerce evolving rapidly. This has resulted in an increasingly disruptive landscape for businesses. One example is the growth of communities of consumers who collaborate through diverse and non‐conventional channels (often focused on specific needs or interests) to engage in information seeking and giving, socialisation, resource sharing and trade. This emerging field of research presents challenges due to the diverse and fragmented theory base available to explore, explain and analyse the phenomena we position in alternative consumption literature. In this paper, we address this challenge in the form of a Communities of Benefit Exchange (CoBE) taxonomy of exchange dimensions detailing purpose, nature of gain and benefit, channel and level of interaction and entity structure evident for consumers who participate in this practice.

Fashion-as-a-Service: Circular Business Model Innovation in Retail

“…Once the space has facilitated these networks "consumers likely engage in second-hand consumption as part of their identity investments, building social and cultural capital and in sustaining a continued commitment to their social and cultural networks" [42] (p. 266). This form of engagement is key in creating long term effective behavioral change as "the level of interaction and community involvement shows that consumers actively seek alternative consumption with a social and community mindset [67] (p. 10)". In other words: social value comes first in the hierarchy before educational value and finally ecological value.…”

Lives of the Lonely: How Collaborative Consumption Services Can Alleviate Social Isolation

“…In addition to monetary gain, early conceptualizations of community-based sharing initiatives highlighted social interaction, community involvement and philanthropy or altruism and sustainability-orientation (Ozanne and Ballantine, 2010 ; Albinsson and Perera, 2012 ). A more recent conceptualization frames these alternative consumption initiatives as Communities of Benefit Exchange, defined as “A community of people with a shared purpose or interest who engage in alternative consumption practices across diverse channels in the pursuit of benefits that can include monetary or non-monetary gain” (Bajaj et al, 2021 , p. 1409). Many community-based economy initiatives are designed to “empower communities and serve as a vehicle for wider social change, emancipation, and solidarity” (Acquier et al, 2017 , p. 6).…”

Fashion Rental: Smart Business or Ethical Folly?

“…When alternative consumption practice is considered from a business strategy perspective, models for success in collaborative and sharing economies are few and fragmented. Recent examination of the disruptive landscape of alternative consumption offers the Communities of Benefit Exchange (CoBE) taxonomy as a means to detail the required exchange dimensions, including the nature of gain and benefit for all parties, and the channel structure required to create joint value for consumers and firms [40]. PSS models, specifically, are yet to be considered under this taxonomy, which indicates potential for developing frameworks for business viability as well as sustainability objectives in fashion rental PSSs.…”

“…If fashion rental is considered as a community of benefit exchange (CoBE), under Bajaj et al's [40] taxonomy of alternative consumption practice, the fashion rental PSS fits squarely within the Business Managed platform structure, with a clear organising strategy and intention of profit generation. The Business Managed platforms are ostensibly the most precarious of CoBE models as they are the most threatened from the network effect of consumer-orientated CoBE platforms, whereby individuals work together in a like-minded fashion to achieve beneficial outcomes for the group.…”

“…The Business Managed platforms are ostensibly the most precarious of CoBE models as they are the most threatened from the network effect of consumer-orientated CoBE platforms, whereby individuals work together in a like-minded fashion to achieve beneficial outcomes for the group. Business Managed platforms tend to have a central purpose of pecuniary gain, whereas Consumer Managed or Business Endorsed platforms often also include the purpose of interaction, community focus, altruism and social sustainability [40]. This categorisation of the fashion rental PSS is, in itself, a key signal of what is required to create a truly sustainable and futurefocused fashion service model-an understanding of the nature of mutual gain and benefit between consumers and service providers.…”