Studying the Effects of Peer-to-Peer Sharing Economy Platforms on Society

Abstract

Peer-to-peer sharing economy platforms potentially have big effects on values in society. Policymakers need to develop governance arrangements to benefit from the positive effects, while simultaneously mitigate the negative effects. This requires having a structured overview of the effects of these platforms on the diversity of values that are involved. Currently no theoretical overview of these effects on values is available. The objective of this article is to structure the research into the effects of sharing economy platforms. We use a theoretical mapping that was developed by using a Grounded Theory approach. By positioning the literature onto the map, we derived an overview of the extend in which each effected value has been studied so far. Based on this mapping, we propose five research themes into specific effects of peer-to-peer sharing economy platforms: social values, consumer and societal risks, working conditions and labor market dynamics, environmental sustainability and innovation.