Uber’s Intermediation in Brazil: Collaborative and Sustainable Consumption Challenges

Abstract

Consumer research deals with complex social problems and, in recent years, it has focused its discussion on the possibilities arising from collaborative consumption. Strategies are aimed at large areas of daily consumption such as transportation, food, housing, and consumer goods, questioning reflections, and impacts on sustainable consumption. These problems need to be analyzed using inter and transdisciplinary research designs, seeking close cooperation between science and practice that aims to create a shared understanding of the research problem. This article seeks to fill the gap in the literature on the potential impacts of the collaborative consumption model as an alternative proposal for sustainable consumption in the transport sector, using intermediaries. It focuses on the structuring of the real world within interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cooperation that involves the theme, using Uber as a typical case. The question that guided the discussion was: what are the impacts on cities regarding consumption practices through transport platforms intermediated by large companies (notably UBER), considering the sustainability dimensions? Through the application of Constellation Analysis (CA), a visualization, and analysis tool that facilitates the dialogue between actors with scientific and practical perspectives, the intersection between the views of actors dealing with conflicting priorities resulting from socio-environmental responsibility took place.