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We describe an equilibrium model of peer-to-peer product sharing, or collaborative consumption, where individuals with varying usage levels make decisions about whether or not to own a homogeneous product. Owners are able to generate income from renting their products to nonowners while nonowners are able to access these products through renting on an as-needed basis. We characterize equilibrium outcomes, including ownership and usage levels, consumer surplus, and social welfare. We compare each outcome in systems with and without collaborative consumption and examine the impact of various problem parameters. Our findings indicate that collaborative consumption can result in either lower or higher ownership and usage levels, with higher ownership and usage levels more likely when the cost of ownership is high. Our findings also indicate that consumers always benefit from collaborative consumption, with individuals who, in the absence of collaborative consumption, are indifferent between owning and not owning benefitting the most. We study both profit-maximizing and social-welfare–maximizing platforms and compare equilibrium outcomes under both in terms of ownership, usage, and social welfare. We find that the difference in social welfare between the profit-maximizing and social-welfare–maximizing platforms is relatively modest. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2970 . This paper was accepted by Gad Allon, operations management.

The sudden rise of the sharing economy has sparked an intense public debate about its definition, its effects and its future regulation. Here, I attempt to provide analytical guidance by defining the sharing economy as the practice that consumers grant each other temporary access to their under-utilized physical assets. Using this definition, the rise of the sharing economy can be understood as occurring at the intersection of three salient economic trends: peer-to-peer exchange, access over ownership and circular business models. I shortly discuss some of the environmental impacts of online sharing platforms and then articulate three possible futures of the sharing economy: a capitalist future cumulating in monopolistic super-platforms allowing for seamless services, a state-led future that shifts taxation from labour to capital and redistributes the gains of sharing from winners to losers, and a citizen-led future based on cooperatively owned platforms under democratic control. The nature and size of the social and environmental impacts are expected to differ greatly in each of the three scenarios. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Material demand reduction’.

Lateral exchange markets (LEMs) are sites of technologically intermediated exchange between actors occupying equivalent network positions. To develop an enriched understanding of these markets, the authors develop a more broad-based and differentiated understanding of peer-to-peer, sharing, and access-based markets. They focus on two key axes: the extent of (1) consociality and (2) platform intermediation. Drawing on these attributes, the authors theoretically deduce four ideal types—Forums, Enablers, Matchmakers, and Hubs. Each type provides value in a different way: Forums connect actors, Enablers equip actors, Matchmakers pair actors, and Hubs centralize exchange. Twenty organizational cases reveal insights into the failure, adaptation, and success of LEMs. Lateral exchange markets shift responsibility for personal and exchange security to relevant personal actors, to institutions, or to the governing algorithms of technology platforms. Extending the general proposition that sociality increasingly infuses market logics, the findings suggest a new frontier in which social resources and software platform algorithms interact as operand resources whose negative consequences (e.g., opportunism) require careful management through assurances and institutional arrangements matched to the type of LEM operation.

PurposeTechnological innovations such as smart mobile devices and mobile applications gave rise to a new business model: collaborative consumption. This business model, which is receiving significant attention from researchers and practitioners, is characterized by an intermediating digital platform that facilitates exchanges between customers and peer service providers. However, many digital platform providers still fail to build a critical mass of demand and supply. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the barriers perceived by both customers and peer service providers.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a mixed-method qualitative approach to develop a comprehensive understanding of the factors that explain the rejection of collaborative consumption. In particular, six focus groups and 14 in-depth interviews were conducted, totaling 50 Belgian participants (with a mean age of 33 years). In addition, 375 online critical incidents—retrieved from various sources, such as review websites and social networks—were used for triangulation purposes. All data were analyzed using a thematic analytic approach.FindingsCustomers and peer service providers reject collaborative consumption because of a complex set of multidimensional functional and psychological barriers. In particular, actors may perceive barriers related to complexity, value, risk, compatibility, contamination, image, and responsibility, which prevent them from participating in collaborative consumption.Originality/valueThis paper builds theory on the reasons why both customers and peer service providers reject collaborative consumption. The research identifies several barriers that were not captured in prior research. Digital platform providers can use the research findings to more fully understand actors' decision-making processes in collaborative consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the topics of sharing economy and collaborative consumption (CC) within the domains of global entrepreneurial opportunities, strategic issues, and emerging online businesses. Both topics remain immensely rich and intertwined because of their interdisciplinary perspectives and multifaceted issues. The sharing economy and CC-based digital platforms clearly support and complement today’s business models, corporate expansion, and entrepreneurial growth. The sharing economy and CC models continue to grow yet can be disruptive in international entrepreneurship. The paper investigates the sharing economy as well as CC in ten sectors (73 firms) from the perspective of “commercial sharing systems” (Lamberton and Rose 2012, p. 109). Findings of the paper reveal that the two topics distinctly remain interconnected when dealing with their business models, entrepreneurial initiatives, and consumers in global markets. The work systematically lays the foundation for future research in the international entrepreneurship literature and its related areas. Companies that pursue the areas of sharing-based systems tend to be inherently innovative and venturesome in their business models and digital platforms. The paper also provides a research agenda and managerial implications of this timely discussion that continues to grow in international entrepreneurship.

The sharing economy has transformed economic transactions, created new organizational forms, and contributed to changes in consumer culture. Started as a movement with promises of a more sustainable, democratic, and inclusive economy, the sharing economy, and its impact on issues such as privacy, discrimination, worker rights, and regulation, is now the subject of heated debate. Many of these issues root in the changes that digital technologies have brought and the unresolved moral and ethical questions emerging therefrom. This special issue contributes to this ongoing debate with five articles that develop theoretical frameworks and conduct empirical investigations, providing fine-grained analyses of urgent issues in the sharing economy. In this article, we highlight these and other issues that we believe deserve further attention from business ethics scholarship.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the key features of fashion rental from a business model perspective with a focus on the role played by digital platforms.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design was used based on multiple case studies of three Italian fashion rental enterprises.FindingsThe findings reveal the key aspects characterizing fashion rental business models and the centrality of digital platforms in value creation, configuration and capture activities. The study also found that fashion rental platforms are likely to exhibit further successful development in the future.Originality/valueThe academic literature on fashion rental has been mainly focussed on examining consumers' motivations and concerns, paying little attention to the enterprise's viewpoint. To date, no previous study has examined fashion rental business models from the retailer's perspective. This paper is the first to explore the key components of fashion rental business models and how digital platforms influence them from the perspective of retailers. The originality of the study is further strengthened by the unique context of analysis, namely, Italy, a leading country for global fashion.

This research aims to understand the digital service platform usage intention and behavior from the perspectives of technology adoption and collaborative consumption. Driven by the recent changes in consumer preferences toward non-ownership of digital products and convenience of accessing digital services, it argues that in addition to service and individual-related factors, collaboration indicating social factors (sense of belonging, sharing behavior, sense of sociability) will have a role in the adoption of servitization of the digital service platforms. It further claims that they will contribute to utilitarian, hedonic, and social value perceptions of digital service platforms so that positive value evaluations will lead to behavioral intention and actual usage behavior. It develops a model that incorporates service, individual, and collaboration-related factors and tests their relationships with value perception and hence digital service platform usage intention and behavior by structural equation modelling using a convenience sample data of 519 respondents. The results indicate that service-related factors affect utilitarian value, while collaboration indicating factors affect hedonic and social value. Overall model demonstrates that the intention to use collaborative consumption services is influenced by utilitarian, hedonic, and social value as well as individual-related factors. Furthermore, the intention to use these services leads to actual usage behavior. By linking value perception with service, consumer, and collaboration characteristics, this study draws attention toward a more comprehensive understanding of digital service adoption.