Saving Time, Money, or the Environment? Consumers’ Motives of Access-Based Service Use

Abstract

Services that give customers access to goods, such as car sharing, bike sharing, or rental platforms for fashion items or tools, are gaining increasing relevance as an alternative to sole ownership. While the general idea of such business models is not new, as various forms of rental and leasing services have existed for a long time, internet technologies simplify such services for both, lessor and lessee, and enable a greater reach. According to US Census Bureau data, revenues of rental and leasing services have increased from $90 bn in 1998 by more than 22 % to over $111 bn in 2010. Societal trends such as a habituation of online sharing behavior via social media are thus considered to have spawned a “sharing revolution”. While previous research has conceptualized access-based consumption, and has investigated determinants of consumers’ intention to rent goods or their participation in commercial sharing systems, little has been known about consumers’ different motives of using such access-based services. This study therefore addresses two research gaps: First, it explores distinct motives that underlie consumers’ use of access-based services; second, the influence of these motives on consumers’ actual usage behavior of access-based services are quantitatively investigated.