Does beauty encourage sharing? Exploring the role of physical attractiveness and racial similarity in collaborative fashion consumption

Collaborative consumption (CC)—where consumers share ownership of commodities—has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Nevertheless, studies have yet to uncover unique factors that can be leveraged by companies to increase purchase intentions toward shareable goods. One of the major concerns among CC users is the issue of contamination. Applying the theories of consumer contamination, physical attractiveness, and similarity attraction, this study examines the influence of positive contamination factors involved in CC of fashion items through two experimental studies with 242 responses. Results show that consumers preferred to purchase items from an attractive or racially similar seller over an unattractive or racially dissimilar seller, and their contamination perceptions were lower for items associated with an attractive or racially similar seller. Such results did not differ across product types with varying degrees of contact. Findings extend current research in CC by revealing meaningful implications for practitioners on alleviating consumers’ concerns about contamination.