External and internal factors affecting collaborative consumption practices: insights from new-middle classes in an emerging market

Purpose - This study aims to unravel the perceived barriers, and external and internal factors affecting the new middle-class Turkish consumers’ collaborative consumption practices (e.g. accommodation rental and ride-sharing services). Design/methodology/approach - This study conducts semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 21 new middle-class consumers from Turkey. The qualitative data were analyzed with reflexive thematic analysis. Findings - Findings show that environmental stimuli (economic crisis, transparent legal requirements, word-of-mouth, urban mobility, unique experiences, cosmopolitan thinking) affect organism factors (financial gains and psychological barriers such as difficulty in relying on service providers, guarded vulnerability, unfavorable brand image of local companies, conventional constraints). Organism factors affect the response of intention to engage in collaborative consumption. Practical implications - Collaborative consumption services can integrate socially responsible projects into their lower-priced services giving signals of “unique,” “feeling at home” and “rely on”. This will help to overcome perceived barriers of conventional constraints, difficulty in relying on service providers and contribute to financial gains and unique experiences. Originality/value - The extant literature focuses mainly on intrinsic and extrinsic motives without thoroughly investigating barriers and their connections to external and internal factors influencing collaborative consumption. This study answers the calls for further research on barriers, external and internal factors affecting collaborative consumption practices. Moreover, this study addresses the need for research on the collaborative consumption practices of middle-class consumers.