Consumers' choice among peer‐to‐peer sharing platforms: The other side of the coin

Abstract

Many peer‐to‐peer sharing platforms are transforming their business model from sharing for free to renting with or without in‐person interactions. How will these changes affect consumers’ participation in peer‐to‐peer sharing of personal items? The work studies consumers’ choice among three business models that vary on two dimensions: “free versus renting” and “with or without in‐person interactions.” The novelty is to consider that consumers’ choice can be driven by their perceptions of relationships among peers, which are shaped by the business models of sharing platforms. Perceptions of communal sharing (CS) relationships among peers are found to differ across business models and to predict consumers’ choice among the platforms above and beyond the economic and social benefits that consumers seek. Interestingly, perceptions of CS are not only found to explain the choice of a sharing for the free business model over the two others, but also the choice of renting with in‐person interactions over renting without in‐person interactions. For managers of peer‐to‐peer sharing platforms, this means that renting does not make sharing completely similar to traditional market exchanges as long as in‐person interactions are involved. For scholars, this calls for more work on the factors that bring about perceptions of CS.

The dark side of the sharing economy: Balancing value co‐creation and value co‐destruction

“…To participate in such a complex system of co‐creation, accommodation providers need to help in establishing collaborative experience outcomes (Simon & Roederer, 2019) and social benefits for all involved as they engage with sharing platforms (Stofberg & Bridoux, 2019). According to Stofberg and Bridoux (2019), sharing through a peer‐to‐peer sharing platform can provide at least two forms of social benefits: benefits that come from belonging to a community where altruism guides transactions (i.e., communal sharing) and benefits that come from transacting with partners who are seen as equal on the basis of balanced reciprocity. Lee et al (2019) further establish that providers' relationship with the sharing platform influences psychological ownership and organizational citizenship, here, the kinds of participation and responsibility individuals develop.…”

“…However, this might vary across different types of hosts or providers, resulting in different weightings of benefits sought. According to Stofberg and Bridoux (2019), in addition to economic benefits, there are social benefits of sharing platforms (i.e., reinforcing emotional bonds with others, of belonging to a community). This affects their levels of commitment invested in community and visitor welfare.…”

“…The motivational make‐up of hosts or providers is complex and diverse, yet it explains how and why they engage, their growth in wealth, how sharing affects their lifestyle and their ability to express themselves, including in their interactions with visitors and own communities (Simon & Roederer, 2019; Stofberg & Bridoux, 2019). In other words, while providers' motivations are shaped by economic benefits, the sharing economy affords also lifestyle reasons.…”

“…Advances in information and communication technology empower the “sharing paradigm” (Ndubisi, Ehret, & Wirtz, 2016; Wirtz, So, Mody, Liu, & Chun, 2019). Sharing platforms have begun to open up new markets and opportunities, providing new forms of income, peer‐to‐peer interaction, and facilitating relationships (Pera & Viglia, 2016; Stofberg & Bridoux, 2019). Yet these new forms of value co‐creation also reveal dark sides we need to deal with realistically (Malhotra & Van Alstyne, 2014), as these platforms have the power to affect the well‐being of individuals and entire communities (Anderson et al, 2013; Breidbach & Brodie, 2017).…”

“…This requires us to understand how the new service economy is embedded in community life, in neighborhoods and amongst families (Vargo & Lusch, 2016; Wirtz et al, 2019). These platforms attract new visitors in droves and create new, positive social dynamics, inspiration and enjoyment that come with collaborative engagement between locals and tourists (Belk, 2010; Pera & Viglia, 2016; Simon & Roederer, 2019; Stofberg & Bridoux, 2019). The social upheaval and displacement of locals that sharing platforms create, however, should also be fully investigated (Wang, Xiang, Yang, & Ma, 2019), to improve our knowledge of how individual service providers and locals can manage the challenges of this disruption (Eckhardt et al, 2019; Wirtz et al, 2019).…”