The Stranger Factor: How Familiarity Influences Sharing Behaviour across Generations

In the sharing economy, P2P platforms must identify the target audience for their marketing campaigns to spend their marketing budgets effectively. The challenge is to convince those who are afraid of sharing with strangers. We analyse participant behaviour by testing whether people's willingness to participate differs depending on whether they shared with known or unknown people. Our study focuses not only on sharing with strangers and exploring this phenomenon but also on sharing with people we know to verify that these people are generally willing to share idle assets. We define four groups of sharing economy participants depending on whether they know the counterparty: (1) active participants afraid of sharing with strangers, (2) active participants indifferent, (3) active participants preferring to share with strangers, and (4) inactive participants. Generation Z will most likely share their idle assets with strangers, while Generation Y does not mind who they share with. Generation X prefers to share with strangers but is also the most inactive. The demand side is more complicated: Generation Z does not care who they demand from, but other generations' preferences depend on the asset type. Again, Generation X is the most inactive. We assume that a generational perspective is essential for P2P marketing mix settings. We summarise new findings from not only a theoretical but also a practical perspective. Implications for Central European audience: We provide a new perspective on sharing idle assets in the context of sharing with strangers. We emphasize a generational perspective and use cluster analysis to define four groups of participants from the perspective of sharing with strangers. P2P platforms operating in the sharing economy can gain more insights into Czech customers' consumer behaviour depending on whether they know the counterparty. The results can also benefit managers in other Central European countries. The findings can also contribute to the theoretical knowledge of the sharing economy and its implications for reducing marketing costs.