A Systematic Literature Review. Relationships between the Sharing Economy, Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals

Andrei Boar,Ramon Bastida,Frederic Marimon

doi:10.3390/su12176744

Abstract

The sharing economy is an umbrella term for different business models that seem to have a positive impact on sustainability. To achieve sustainable development, the UN has created 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an instrument and guide for countries and individuals. This paper sheds light on the relationships between the sharing economy, sustainability and SDGs through the content analysis of 74 papers from the database Web of Science that consider these factors through the topics of the environment, consumer values, business characteristics and urban impact regarding sectors such as mobility and accommodation. Results express that the sharing economy helps to achieve all SDGs. However, further research is needed because of the novelty of the topic and the existence of many gaps. The sharing economy has a positive effect on the dimensions of sustainability from the economic, social and environmental points of view.

Highlights

Introduction and Theorical FrameworkSustainable development was defined for the first time in 1987 as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]
The main objective of the research is to identify the relationships that exist in the literature between the sharing economy and sustainability, and the sharing economy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This paper proposed a systematic review of the sharing economy, sustainability and SDGs

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development was defined for the first time in 1987 as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]. Most of the standards address sustainability issues through economic, environmental and social dimensions [2]. The sharing economy can be placed on three foundational cores: (a) access economy, (b) platform economy and (c) community-based economy [6]. They define each concept as follows: Access economy: initiatives sharing underutilised assets (material resources or skills) to optimise their use

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Conclusion