Abstract
Sharing Economy organizations appear to enjoy positive moral capital associated with supporting local entrepreneurs, the economy, and the environment. However, they operate in a regulatory limbo allowing them to engage in business practices that would not be permitted in other sectors. Hence a question remains: Does Sharing Economy (SE) have a moral capital? To explore whether the sharing economy has a moral capital, we explored the discussions around Uber after a number of scandals in 2017 in news media and on Twitter. Our findings show that news media play a critical role in developing and maintaining a positive moral capital of Uber, while the general public on Twitter tend to be more negative and do not afford SE much moral capital.
Highlights
Organizations have historically been operating in either hierarchies or markets with clearly demarcated roles for the producer and the consumer
To understand whether there are ideological controversies around the Sharing Economy (SE), and if the SE has a moral capital, we investigated the public discussion in the news media and Twitter around Uber during its crisis in 2017
Looking at the sentiment expressed around Uber in 2017 by news media and the general public on Twitter, we can see that the percentage of neutral content is similar around the two categories of actors, 44.4% in news media and 46% on Twitter
Summary
Organizations have historically been operating in either hierarchies or markets with clearly demarcated roles for the producer and the consumer. On BlablaCar or Airbnb providers of a vacant seat or spare bed are often consumers on the platforms seeking rides or rooms. Consumers on these platforms have turned around and provided products or services on the same platform. The concept builds on the notion that owners of underutilized durable goods or providers of unique skills can share these with peers who are willing to consume them from other peers rather than traditional providers of such goods or services forming a community of “prosumers” rather than mere producers or consumers (Havas, 2014). Practitioners in the SE share a sentiment of wanting to create an inclusive and equal society, where communal bonds may be spurred (Belk, 2010; Belk, 2007; Botsman & Roger, 2010) and people out of work may be enabled to become micro-entrepreneurs (Cafe, 2013)
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