Collaborative Consumption in Sharing Economy: Own or Access?

Abstract

Through the review of related literature, this paper defines collaborative consumption as the activity which consumers try to satisfy their interests, acquire and distribute products without ownership through modern information technologies and market intermediary in the organized system and network. Compared with the ownership-based consumption, collaborative consumption is a temporary and situational pattern. Consumers do not aim at the possession of products. In contrast to sharing, collaborative consumption is a market-based reciprocal exchange. Compared with the access-based consumption, collaborative consumption also includes the sharing of private property among consumers. On the basis of reviewing the existing literature on the classification of collaborative consumption, this paper proposes that collaborative consumption is divided into enterprises’ physical product sharing, enterprises’ non-physical product sharing, consumers’ physical product sharing, and consumers’ non-physical product sharing by identifying the difference between the sharing subject （enterprise/consumer） and the object （tangible/intangible）. Further, this paper summarizes the characteristics of collaborative spending as system dependence, market intermediation, consumer participation and online sharing. Understanding the individual characteristics and motivations for the consumer participation in collaborative consumption has become the core of competition between the sharing economic models and traditional business models. This paper analyzes the impacts of demographic characteristics （e.g., age, gender, income and education） and psychological tendencies （e.g., individual innovation, materialism, reciprocity, familiarity and trust） on consumers’ intentions of collaborative consumption. Based on the theory of self-determination, the motivation of consumers to participate in collaborative consumption is further divided into external regulation, introjected regulation, identity regulation, integration regulation and intrinsic regulation. The external regulation includes economic benefits, functional interests and the perceived product scarcity risks; the introjected regulation includes cultural social norms, status consumption, etc.; the identity regulation includes the sense of community, belonging and symbolic values; the integration regulation includes political consumerism, anti-industrial utility, sustainable development and environmental awareness, etc.; and the intrinsic regulation includes hedonic values and the demand for unique products. Finally, this paper proposes the research framework of collaborative consumption, and points out future research opportunities: （1） consumer participation in collaborative consumption; （2） collaborative consumption impacts on consumers; （3） commercial sharing system; and （4） collaborative consumption in China.