IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p8037-d596827.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional Strategies in the Ridesharing Economy: A Content Analysis Based on Uber’s Example

Author

Listed:
  • Michaël Distelmans

    (Department of Business, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium)

  • Ilse Scheerlinck

    (Department of Business, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium)

Abstract

Recently, scholars have paid growing attention to ridesharing economy firms’ institutional work to obtain legitimacy. More specifically, they have pinpointed the need for further research to better understand the actions of institutional entrepreneurs across geographical contexts. In this paper, we investigate Uber’s institutional strategies in the Brussels Capital Region from 2014 to 2020. Using the theoretical lens of institutional entrepreneurship, we apply content analysis of press media to analyse Uber in relation to authorities, incumbents, drivers and users. We also delve into the tactical aspects of Uber’s institutional work. The findings show that during the first years of operation, Uber predominantly used strategies of framing and lobbying. The company also made diverse articulations of theorization, collaboration, and negotiation. A more inductive reasoning reveals that market strategies also have a part in Uber’s institutional work. According to the findings, Uber’s quest for legitimacy in Brussels was not an unqualified success, due to conflicts and special interests complicating the market. We formulate recommendations on how actors may build a more sustainable market of ridesharing and provide some reflections on the theoretical framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaël Distelmans & Ilse Scheerlinck, 2021. "Institutional Strategies in the Ridesharing Economy: A Content Analysis Based on Uber’s Example," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:8037-:d:596827
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/8037/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/8037/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew R. Goetz, 2019. "Transport challenges in rapidly growing cities: is there a magic bullet?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 701-705, November.
    2. Parente, Ronaldo C. & Geleilate, José-Mauricio G. & Rong, Ke, 2018. "The Sharing Economy Globalization Phenomenon: A Research Agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 52-64.
    3. Wouter P. C. Boon & Kristy Spruit & Koen Frenken, 2019. "Collective institutional work: the case of Airbnb in Amsterdam, London and New York," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(8), pages 898-919, September.
    4. Hui Chen & David Parsley & Ya-Wen Yang, 2015. "Corporate Lobbying and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 444-481, April.
    5. Mair, Johanna & Reischauer, Georg, 2017. "Capturing the dynamics of the sharing economy: Institutional research on the plural forms and practices of sharing economy organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 11-20.
    6. Martin, Chris J., 2016. "The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 149-159.
    7. Ali Enes Dingil & Joerg Schweizer & Federico Rupi & Zaneta Stasiskiene, 2019. "Updated Models of Passenger Transport Related Energy Consumption of Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Ioannis Chatziioannou & Luis Alvarez-Icaza & Efthimios Bakogiannis & Charalampos Kyriakidis & Luis Chias-Becerril, 2020. "A Structural Analysis for the Categorization of the Negative Externalities of Transport and the Hierarchical Organization of Sustainable Mobility’s Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-27, July.
    9. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Sinziana Dorobantu & Aseem Kaul & Bennet Zelner, 2017. "Nonmarket strategy research through the lens of new institutional economics: An integrative review and future directions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 114-140, January.
    10. Binz, Christian & Harris-Lovett, Sasha & Kiparsky, Michael & Sedlak, David L. & Truffer, Bernhard, 2016. "The thorny road to technology legitimation — Institutional work for potable water reuse in California," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 249-263.
    11. Julie Battilana & Bernard Leca & Eva Boxenbaum, 2009. "How actors change institutions : Towards a theory of institutional entrepreneurship," Post-Print hal-00576509, HAL.
    12. Becker, Henrik & Balac, Milos & Ciari, Francesco & Axhausen, Kay W., 2020. "Assessing the welfare impacts of Shared Mobility and Mobility as a Service (MaaS)," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 228-243.
    13. Steven Kane Curtis & Matthias Lehner, 2019. "Defining the Sharing Economy for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-25, January.
    14. Lucie Enochsson & Yuliya Voytenko Palgan & Andrius Plepys & Oksana Mont, 2021. "Impacts of the Sharing Economy on Urban Sustainability: The Perceptions of Municipal Governments and Sharing Organisations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-31, April.
    15. Peraphan Jittrapirom & Valeria Caiati & Anna-Maria Feneri & Shima Ebrahimigharehbaghi & María J. Alonso González & Jishnu Narayan, 2017. "Mobility as a Service: A Critical Review of Definitions, Assessments of Schemes, and Key Challenges," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(2), pages 13-25.
    16. Blind, Knut, 2012. "The influence of regulations on innovation: A quantitative assessment for OECD countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 391-400.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shuchih Ernest Chang & Erik Chiaway Chang & Yijou Chen, 2022. "Blockchain Meets Sharing Economy: A Case of Smart Contract Enabled Ridesharing Service," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Hugo Guyader & Margareta Friman & Lars E. Olsson, 2021. "Shared Mobility: Evolving Practices for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-14, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chan Liu & Raymond K. H. Chan & Maofu Wang & Zhe Yang, 2020. "Mapping the Sharing Economy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-19, August.
    2. João Miguel Cotrim & Francisco Nunes & Rafael Laurenti, 2020. "Making Sense of the Sharing Economy: A Category Formation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Nancy Bocken & Alexandra Jonca & Karolina Södergren & Jenny Palm, 2020. "Emergence of Carsharing Business Models and Sustainability Impacts in Swedish Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Schreyer, Jasmin, 2020. "Sharing ≠ Sharing Economy: Ausprägungen der digitalen Sharing Economy im Lebensmittelsektor," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2020-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    5. Dan Wang & Liang Yan & Fangli Ruan, 2022. "A Combined IO-DEMATEL Analysis for Evaluating Sustainable Effects of the Sharing Related Industries Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, May.
    6. Lim, Weng Marc, 2020. "The sharing economy: A marketing perspective," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 4-13.
    7. Geissinger, Andrea & Laurell, Christofer & Sandström, Christian & Eriksson, Klas & Nykvist, Rasmus, 2019. "Digital entrepreneurship and field conditions for institutional change– Investigating the enabling role of cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 877-886.
    8. Akbari, Morteza & Foroudi, Pantea & Khodayari, Maryam & Zaman Fashami, Rahime & Shahabaldini parizi, Zahra & Shahriari, Elmira, 2022. "Sharing Your Assets: A Holistic Review of Sharing Economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 604-625.
    9. Jorge Tello‐Gamarra & Carlai Netto, 2022. "The sharing economy in social media: An institutional analysis in an emerging country," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 988-999, June.
    10. Andreas Reuschl & Victor Tiberius & Matthias Filser & Yixin Qiu, 2022. "Value configurations in sharing economy business models," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 89-112, January.
    11. Xiulan Jiang & Yukun Li & Jun Yang & Sen Wang & Chunjia Han, 2024. "Host–Guest Interaction and Sustainable Consumption Behaviour on Sharing-Accommodation Platforms: Using a Big Data Analytic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Emmanuelle Reuter, 2022. "Hybrid business models in the sharing economy: The role of business model design for managing the environmental paradox," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 603-618, February.
    13. Ruhrort, Lisa, 2020. "Reassessing the Role of Shared Mobility Services in a Transport Transition: Can They Contribute the Rise of an Alternative Socio-Technical Regime of Mobility?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(19), pages 1-1.
    14. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan & Everding, Sebastian, 2020. "Do hybrids impede sustainability? How semantic reorientations and governance reforms can produce and preserve sustainability in sharing business models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 174-185.
    15. Valeria Andreoni, 2020. "The Trap of Success: A Paradox of Scale for Sharing Economy and Degrowth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    16. Manuel Sánchez-Pérez & Nuria Rueda-López & María Belén Marín-Carrillo & Eduardo Terán-Yépez, 2021. "Theoretical dilemmas, conceptual review and perspectives disclosure of the sharing economy: a qualitative analysis," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 1849-1883, October.
    17. Manon Feys & Evy Rombaut & Lieselot Vanhaverbeke, 2020. "Experience and Acceptance of Autonomous Shuttles in the Brussels Capital Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-23, October.
    18. Tina Ringenson & Peter Arnfalk & Anna Kramers & Liridona Sopjani, 2018. "Indicators for Promising Accessibility and Mobility Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    19. Hou, Tingting & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Ke, Dan & Cheng, Xusen, 2022. "Exploring different appraisals in deviant sharing behaviors: A mixed-methods study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 496-509.
    20. Felicitas Evangelista & Maria Estela Varua & Vivienne Saverimuttu & Rina Datt & Hugh Pattinson & Karina Wardle & Anna Evangelista, 2022. "Antecedents and Outcomes of Service Co-Creation in the Sharing Economy," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:8037-:d:596827. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.