The Sharing Economy

Have you ever rented a car through Turo or listed your home on Airbnb?

 

These platforms are part of the sharing economy, a disruptive and revolutionary business model that allows consumers to rent their private possessions to other consumers. This model is very different from renting through a professional service, but it can often help consumers save money, reduce environmental impact by sharing rather than owning, or create new opportunities for social interaction.

While these consumer-to-consumer rentals are becoming increasingly common, largely due to the growth of online platforms, the idea of participating in them may still feel unfamiliar or unconventional to some.

So what happens when consumers engage in the sharing economy? Recent research by Dr. Li, Dr. Graul, and Dr. Zhu shows that consumers weigh distinct benefits of sharing, such as economic utility, social value, and sustainability potential, against their prior beliefs.

As the first to capture this phenomenon, Dr. Antje Graul, Associate Professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, and her co-authors demonstrate that sharing experiences influence consumers’ critical self-reflection across three dimensions: self-awareness, self-regulation, and identity construction. These processes, in turn, shape consumers’ intentions to re-engage in sharing practices.

Their research published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is the first to demonstrate the transformative impacts of the sharing economy at the individual consumer level. By explaining the missing link between consumers’ sharing experiences and their intention to re-engage in the sharing economy, the authors also clarify previously inconsistent research findings and offer important insights to advance theory and inform marketing practice.

Read the full study here:

Li, S. Y., Graul, A. R., & Zhu, J. J. (2024). Investigating the disruptiveness of the sharing economy at the individual consumer level: How consumer reflexivity drives re-engagement in sharing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(1), 164-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00926-6