Uber Drivers and Employment Status in the Gig Economy: Should Corporate Social Responsibility Tip the Scales?

Systematic framework to assess social impacts of sharing platforms: Synthesising literature and stakeholder perspectives to arrive at a framework and practice-oriented tool

“…Studies are emerging that demonstrate how sharing platforms provide real-time flexibility to earnings and potentially lead to higher hourly wages [ 135 ]. The sharing economy probably creates more opportunities for employment than it eliminates [ 116 ], with users valuing the flexibility in hours and effort they may choose to engage in the platform [ 14 ]. Users can earn money by providing access to shared resources or save money by accessing shared resources more cheaply than buying new, leading to financial independence and a sense of empowerment.…”

“…Because of rebound effects and our complex systems of production and consumption, it is difficult to determine net jobs created or the impact of secondary consumption as a result of savings in the sharing economy [ 25 , 36 , 51 , 110 ]. In times of economic crisis, users that rely on revenues generated from the sharing economy lack legal protections and employment contracts compared to traditional employment [ 14 ]. Many authors warn that the lack of regulation and labour unions can also lead to precarious employment and poor working conditions [ 73 , 74 ].…”

“…Growing empirical evidence and user experiences suggest negative social impacts as a result of the activities of sharing platforms, e.g. Airbnb [ 11 – 13 ], Uber [ 14 – 16 ], and other shared mobility platforms [ 17 ]. There is concern that sharing platforms are simply exploiting time and resources of their users to their detriment [ 18 ].…”

“…However, knowledge about social impacts in the sharing economy remains scarce and fragmented [ 19 ]. Most studies tend to advocate specific perspectives, for example, trust [ 20 , 21 ] and discrimination [ 22 , 23 ], while other studies focus on discussing a range of social impacts emanating from a single sharing platform such as Airbnb [ 11 ] and Uber [ 14 ]. This narrow focus results in relatively limited conceptual transferability across the diversity of sharing economy business models and related consumption practices.…”

Impact of the Car-Sharing on Urban Sustainability

“…The Zipcar platform allows individuals to rent a car for shorter distances, such as a short trip or a grocery store trip [30]. Some of the companies in this segment of the sharing economy are ZipCar in the United Kingdom [41], Car2Go in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain [42] and Autolib in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom [43]. Bikes can be rented through the Spinlister [44].…”