From Solidity to Liquidity: Macro-Level Consumption Patterns in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

Macro-level consumption patterns in ownership-based modernity have been identified as being predominantly passive, individualistic, private, and alienated. However, access-based consumption, the new imperative of what has been termed the sharing economy, is fundamentally changing traditional business models and affords consumers a more flexible and fluid lifestyle without the burden of ownership. The current essay updates Fırat and Dholakia’s framework of consumption patterns with the new conditions of the sharing economy and critically reflects on the implications of market-mediated access for the four dimensions of the framework. The authors conclude that the sharing economy implies a shift from solid to liquid consumption, but this transition is sideward rather than upward because consumption alternatives in the sharing economy remain within the boundaries of market-mediated exchange and thus fail to generate substantive higher-level consumption alternatives between modes of consumption (e.g., the choice between using a car or public transport).

Four-Stage Model of Value Creation for Sustainability-Oriented Marketing: En Route to Participatory Marketing

“…In participatory marketing, value materializes through social practices and value, which is a paradoxical contrast to a capitalist-value regime. In other words, participatory marketing seeks to promote "active-collective-participatory" macro-level consumption patterns rather than "passiveindividual-private-alienated" patterns of functional, secondhand, and sharing economies (Saravade, Felix and Fuat Fırat 2021).…”

A Critical Framework for Examining Sustainability Claims of the Sharing Economy: Exploring the Tensions Within Platform Brand Discourses

“…The materialism at the heart of capitalist economies compels consumers to own more and more things, and attributes greater status to those who have possessions (Martin 2016; Snare 1972). The sharing economy is grounded in more liquid logics, whereby consumers will prefer access over ownership and value-in-use over symbolic value (Bardhi and Eckhardt 2012, 2017; Eckhardt et al 2019; Saravade, Felix, and Fırat 2021). In particular, sharing economy models represent a challenge to materialism and ownership, potentially rewriting rules around status (Botsman and Rogers 2010; Eckhardt and Bardhi 2020; Gonzalez et al 2009; Katrini 2018; Perren and Kozinets 2018; Rifkin 2000).…”

“…Assessments of the sustainability impacts of particular sharing models do indicate some sustainability benefits where the impact is to displace less sustainable alternatives such as private motor vehicle use, reduce pollution, and potentially reduce resource use, but the claims of intrinsic sustainability are unsupported (Curtis and Mont 2020; Mi and Coffman 2019; Saravade, Felix, and Firat 2021). The move from ownership to access often requires consumers to modify their attitudes and behaviors towards consumption (Eckhardt et al 2019).…”

“…One of these is the sharing economy (Ahuvia and Izberk-Bilgin 2011; Eckhardt et al 2019; Katrini 2018; Martin 2016). Encapsulating a range of access-based approaches to consumption (Bardhi and Eckhardt 2012; Saravade, Felix, and Fırat 2021), the sharing economy has the potential to reduce climate change emissions, waste, and overconsumption (Lang and Armstrong 2018; Rifkin 2000). Despite the intuitive link between owning less (i.e., materialism; Burroughs and Rindfleisch 2012) and positive environmental impact, claims regarding the sustainability benefits of the sharing economy are complex (Schor 2016) and should not be taken for granted (Mi and Coffman 2019).…”

“…However, as several authors identify, unsustainability can also be inherent in a capitalist market logic, resulting in unforeseen consequences and counter-intuitive results (Campbell, O'Driscoll, and Saren 2013; Ekström and Salomonson 2014; Mittelstaedt et al 2014). In a recent critical essay, Saravade, Felix, and Fırat (2021) concluded that because of an underpinning market logic, the sharing economy was unlikely to represent an alternative mode of consumption, but rather compete horizontally with existing models including public alternatives (car sharing schemes, for instance, compete with public transport). Together, these observations call for further examinations into the relationship between sharing economy models and environmental well-being; a call we take up with a critical examination of three sharing economy brands.…”