Is sharing really (car)ing? A quantitative study on the perceived benefits of access-based consumption

Abstract

Changes in the perception of ownership are at the core of the sharing economy, which size is now estimated to be $15 billion dollars. Consumers have realized that buying access to products for limited time periods can provide the same benefits as buying the product. Access-based consumption deprives consumers of maintenances cost and other burdens economic of ownership. Over 250 sharing economy services enable consumers to rent, share, donate, lend, or purchase goods from fellow consumers or corporate entities. Previous studies on access-based consumption have focused on the antecedents for participation in sharing and rental services. The purpose of this thesis was to gain a greater understanding of consumer attitudes towards access-based consumption. We wanted to investigate if the perceived benefits from participation in sharing services, where consumers buy access to goods from their peers, differ from those of rental services, which take place in a business-to-consumer setting. Using a quantitative between-subject design, we discovered large differences in attitudes towards rental and sharing services. While participation in sharing services is perceived to have economic, environmental, and social benefits, participation in rental services is only perceived to have social benefits. We also found differences in the perceived social benefits of the two services. Sharing services were perceived to create more social interaction and new friendships. In contrast, the greatest social benefit of participation in rental services was a sense of unity among the members. Additionally, our study found that sharing could be regarded as an enjoyable experience, rather than just another as a form of consumption