Perceiving Control over the Exchange on Peer-to-Peer Platforms: Measurement and Effects in the Second-Hand Market

Abstract

While the emergence of peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms has revolutionized the way people exchange goods, these platforms face the need to provide appealing products offered by independent providers. However, those providers have to deal with anonymous buyers, potentially hindering their perception of control over the exchange and their subsequent willingness to use the platform. Our research addresses this issue of providers’ control. Because prior research uses either environment-centric or individual-centric measures of control, no accurate measure of perceived control exists. This research aims to contribute by providing a scale that—in line with control theories—differentiates among the perceptions of control that derive from individual (i.e., skills-related) and those that emerge from the environment (i.e., security-related, autonomy-related). The results of four empirical studies performed in the second-hand market provide strong empirical support for the validity of our control scale and its ability to explain the provider’s experience on the P2P platform.