A Combined IO-DEMATEL Analysis for Evaluating Sustainable Effects of the Sharing Related Industries Development

Abstract

Emerging economies suffer more severe pressure to coordinate sustainable production and consumption, and new industry input–output (IO) solutions are urgent. An emerging service supply and consumption mode, the sharing economy (SE) penetrates various industries and rewrites the technological–economic links between sectors via integrating scattered and idle resources. The sustainable effects of such industrial linkages changes triggered by its specific activities remain unclear. The study aims to clarify the mechanism of SE in coordinating the relationship between production and consumption among industries and demonstrate its particular role in cleaner production and sustainable consumption to reveal its multistage and systematic impact on industrial development through input–output linkages. Grounded on the IO and complex systems theory, we establish an IO-DEMATEL industrial development evaluation model embedded in the IO table. The comparative analysis of IO cross-sectional data in 2007 and 2018 deduces the dynamic evolution of industrial interaction and structure under the penetration of SE, as well as its contributions to the national economy in China. The result reveals that sharing activities raise the industry prominence moderately and promote the cleanliness and resource-conservation of industrial connections. However, the prominence of the five sectors regarding input, output, or comprehensive influence currently ranks in the lower-middle levels among all industries. Industrial structure optimization has only been observed on the supply side. Our findings complement a deepened empirical evidence of SE and its sustainability, which is also of practical significance for policymakers to identify the critical industries that conduct cleaner production and sustainable consumption.