Platforms and trust as two columns of sharing economy

Kinga  Szabó

doi:10.32976/stratfuz.2024.19

Authors

Kinga Szabó Budapest Metropolitan University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32976/stratfuz.2024.19

Keywords:

Sharing economy, platforms, Digital Identity, trust in sharing economy, reputation information

Abstract

In the past two decades, economic models based on platform-based sharing, driven by the IT revolution, have caused a fundamental shift in traditional business practice, global capitalism, and societal values. The platform, along with all its features, has taken over the role of the organizational form since they have brought together strangers with under-utilized capacities and belongings, with those who need them without looking for ownership. The entire economic ecosystem - marketing techniques, business practices, supply chains, and consumption habits - has undergone a significant transformation. Consumer behavior is changing rapidly, and consumers are looking for appropriate and efficient access to goods and services through the Internet, without the financial, emotional, and logistical burdens of ownership. The radius of trust which was initially confined to family, friends, and local communities; now encompasses strangers who do not speak a common language and who are in different countries. Trust driven by Digital Identity (DI) and Trust and Reputation Information (TRI) have enabled what was considered unbelievable or even impossible some years ago. Further expansion and deepening of trust, based on new technologies combined with the international legal framework, has the potential to rewrite modern capitalism and societal values. This paper introduces the role of platforms in the evolution of the sharing economy, the role of trust in promoting such platforms, and the role of well-designed platforms in fostering and nurturing trust which is essential for promoting and sustaining sharing economy models.

Author Biography

Kinga Szabó, Budapest Metropolitan University

Head of Rector's Office

References

ACQUIER A., DAUDIGEOS T. AND PINKSE J., (2017): Promises and paradoxes of the sharing economy: An organizing framework. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 125(C), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.07.006

ALLEN, JONATHAN P., (2017): “Technology and Inequality Case Study: The Sharing Economy.” In Technology and Inequality, 121–35. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56958-1_8

ARONSON, ELLIOT (2007): The Social Animal, Palgrave Macmillan, 10th revised edition, 2007, ISBN 1-4292-0316-1

BARDHI, FLEURA- ECKHARDT, M. GIANA (2012): Access-based Consumption: the case of car sharing. Journal of Consumer Research Vol. 39, No.4S., pp. 881–898, https://doi.org/10.1086/666376

BARDHI, F., ECKHARDT, G.M., & ARNOULD, E. J. (2012): Liquid Relationship to Possessions. Journal of Consumer Research, 39 (3), https://doi.org/10.1086/664037

BARNES, S. J., & MATTSSON, J. (2016): Understanding current and future issues in collaborative consumption: A four-stage Delphi study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 104, 200-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.01.006

BAUMAN, Z., (2007): Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity.

BELK, R. (2007). Why not share rather than own? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 611, 126-140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716206298483

BELK, RUSSELL (2010): Sharing. Journal of Consumer Research Vol. 36, No.5S., pp. 715–734, https://doi.org/10.1086/612649

BELK, RUSSELL (2014): You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research, Vol.67, No.8S., pp.1595-2000., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.10.001

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW: Boosting Demand in the “Experience Economy”, (January-February 2015). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/01/boosting-demand-in-the-experience-economy

BOTSMAN, RACHEL-ROGERS, ROO (2011): What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, New York, NY: Harper Collins.

BROOKS, D. (2011): The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, Random House

CALDIERARO F., ZHANG J.Z., CUNHA M. JR., & SHULMAN J.D., (2018): “Strategic information transmission in peer-to-peer lending markets”, Journal of Marketing, 82(2), 42-63. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.16.0113

CHEN, Y. (2009): Possession and Access: Consumer Desires and Value Perceptions Regarding Contemporary Art Collection and Exhibit Visits, Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (April), 925–40. https://doi.org/10.1086/593699 Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/5044703/Possession_and_Access_Consumer_Desires_and_Value_Perceptions_Regarding_Contemporary_Art_Collection_and_Exhibit_Visits

CHENG M., (2016): “Sharing Economy: A Review and Agenda for Future Research.” International Journal of Hospitality Management 57 (August): 60–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.06.003

CHENG, XUSEN- FU, SHIXUAN- SUN, JIANSHAN- BILGIHAN, ANIL- OKUMUS, FEVZI (2019): An investigation on online reviews in sharing economy driven hospitality platforms: A viewpoint of trust, Tourism Management, Vol. 71, pp. 366–377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.10.020

CHESHIRE, L., WALTERS, P., & ROSENBLATT, T. (2010):The Politics of Housing Consumption: Renters as Flawed Consumers on a Master Planned Estate, Urban Studies, 47 (12), 2597–2614. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098009359028 Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.866.131&rep=rep1&type=pdf

DAVIDSON, N. M. & INFRANCA J.J . (2016): The Sharing Economy as an Urban Phenomenon. Yale Law & Policy Review, vol. 34, no. 2, Spring 2016, pp. 215-279. Retrieved from http://ylpr.yale.edu/sites/default/files/YLPR/davidson_infranca_article22.pdf

DURGEE, J., & O’CONNOR G. (1995): An Exploration into Renting as Consumption Behaviour. Psychology and Marketing, 12 (2), 89–104. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.4220120202

FRENKEN, KOEN, (2017): “Political Economies and Environmental Futures for the Sharing Economy.” Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences 375 (2095). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0367

FRENKEN K. AND SCHOR J., (2017) “Putting the sharing economy into perspective”, Environmental Innovations and Societal Transitions, Vol. 23, pp. 3-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2017.01.003

GIONES F. AND BREM A., (2017): Digital Technology Entrepreneurship: A Definition and Research Agenda. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7, 5, 44-51. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1076

GROWTH BUSINESS. Sharing economy outstrips combined growth of Facebook, Google and Yahoo. Available at: https://growthbusiness.co.uk/sharing-economy-outstrips-combined-growth-of-facebook-google-and-yahoo-12378/ (Accessed June 1, 2024).

JACONI, M., (2014, July 13). The 'On-Demand Economy' Is Revolutionizing Consumer Behavior — Here's How. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/the-on- demand-economy-2014-7

LEINBERGER, C. B. (2007): The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, Washington, DC: Island Press.

MARX, P. (2011): The Borrowers. New Yorker, January 31, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/31/the-borrowers

MATZAT, UWE- SNIJDERS, CHRIS (2012): Rebuilding Trust in Online Shops on Consumer Review Sites: Sellers’ Responses to User-Generated Complaints, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 62–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01594.x

MAY, SPENCER, MARCUS KÖNIGSSON, AND JONNY HOLMSTROM, (2017): “Unlocking the Sharing Economy: Investigating the Barriers for the Sharing Economy in a City Context.” First Monday 22 (2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i2.7110.

MAYCOTTE H.O., (2015): Millenials Are Driving the Sharing Economy-And So Is Big Data, 25.11.2016, http://www.forbes.com/sites/homaycotte/2015/05/05/millennials-are-driving-the-sharing-economy-and-so-is-big-data/#495063702991 (Accessed June 1, 2024).

MCLAREN D., AND AGYEMAN J., (2015): Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities. MIT Press. (p.64). https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262029728.001.0001

OGILVY (2010): Eyes Wide Open, Wallet Half Shut: The Emerging Post-recession Consumer Conscious-ness. Retrieved from http://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/consumerinsights/eyes-wide-open-wallets-half-shut

OWYANG JEREMIAH, (2015): Report: The New Rules of the Collaborative Economy, 2015 Data on the Rise of Sharing. Posted on October 5th, 2015 in: Collaborative Economy.

OZANNE, L., & BALLANTINE P. (2010): Sharing as a Form of Anti-consumption? An Examination of Toy Library Users. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 9 (6), 485–98. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.334

PWC (2015): The Sharing Economy. PricewaterhouseCoopers Consumer Intelligence Series. Available at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology/publications/assets/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-the-sharing-economy.pdf (Accessed May 15, 2024).

RITZER, G., (2010): Sociological Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

RIFKIN, J., (2014): The Zero Marginal Cost Society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

SHUEH JASON, (2014): Why is everyone watching the Sharing Economy? Tribune Business News, 11 Feb 2014.

SIERING MICHAEL, DEOKAR AMIT V., AND JANZE CHRISTIAN, (2018): Disentangling consumer recommendations: Explaining and predicting airline recommendations based on online reviews, Decision Support Systems, Vol. 107, pp. 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2018.01.002

SNARE, F., (1972): The Concept of Property. American Philosophical Quarterly, 9 (2), 200–206.

SUNDARARAJAN, ARUN (2016): The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

SUSSAN F. AND ACS Z. J., (2017): The Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Small Business Economics, 49, 1, 55-73. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9867-5

VENTURE BEAT, (2015): The sharing economy has created 17 billion-dollar companies (and 10 unicorns). Available at: http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/04/the-sharing-economy-has-created-17-billion-dollar-companies-and-10-unicorns. (Accessed September 17, 2019).

WILSON, B., (2017): What is the 'gig' economy? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38930048

WIRTZ JOCHEN, FUNG SO KEVIN KAM, MODY MAKARAND AMRISH, LIU STEPHANIE Q., CHUN HELEN, (2019): Platforms in the peer-to-peer sharing economy. Journal of Service Management, 30(4), 452-483. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2018-0369