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Online and Offline Communities in the Sharing Economy

Author

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  • Taneli Vaskelainen

    (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands)

  • Laura Piscicelli

    (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The online community is crucial to sharing economy platforms because without it, no transactions can take place. Online communities have been studied extensively, but so far, little attention has been paid to how they link to different offline communities, such as geographic (e.g., neighborhoods) and relational communities (e.g., friends and colleagues). In this study, we address this gap by examining the importance of communities to the users and the entrepreneurs of the goods-sharing platform Ecomodo. We conduct a qualitative content analysis of archival and interview data to uncover the importance of different communities and the relationships among them. We discover that the platform design aimed to facilitate lending and borrowing in relational communities. However, geographic communities were more important to the users since most of them joined the platform to be acquainted with their neighbors. We also find that the platform entrepreneurs underestimated the behavioral changes needed to use the platform. The producers were not used to asking for money to lend their possessions, and it was difficult to teach consumers to borrow instead of buying. We use these findings to offer recommendations to practitioners and discuss some avenues for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Taneli Vaskelainen & Laura Piscicelli, 2018. "Online and Offline Communities in the Sharing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2927-:d:164285
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Elfriede Penz & Barbara Hartl & Eva Hofmann, 2018. "Collectively Building a Sustainable Sharing Economy Based on Trust and Regulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-6, October.
    3. Kusumastuti, Ratih Dyah & Nurmala, N. & Rouli, Juliana & Herdiansyah, Herdis, 2022. "Analyzing the factors that influence the seeking and sharing of information on the smart city digital platform: Empirical evidence from Indonesia," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Halberstadt, Jantje & Kollhoff, Sophia & Kraus, Sascha & Dhir, Amandeep, 2022. "Early bird or early worm? First-mover (dis)advantages and the success of web-based social enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    5. Sojkin Bogdan & Michalak Szymon, 2019. "Innovative Behavior of the Poznań Agglomeration Inhabitants in the Transport Services Market," Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations, Sciendo, vol. 33(3), pages 71-98, September.
    6. Haoxiao Li & Haoyu Wen, 2019. "How Is Motivation Generated in Collaborative Consumption: Mediation Effect in Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, January.
    7. Cabral, Natália Gomes Cavalcante & Gohr, Cláudia Fabiana, 2023. "Sustainable value creation in sharing economy: Conceptual framework proposition and application in Brazilian offline communities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    8. Akbar, Payam & Hoffmann, Stefan, 2020. "Creating value in product service systems through sharing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 495-505.

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