Sharing and Platform Economy in Tourism: An Ecosystem Review of Actors and Future Research Agenda

The chapter provides an overview of the literature investigating the sharing economy in tourism with the aim to identify what we already know and what we should further investigate about two major issues: (1) the multidimensionality of the sharing economy phenomenon and its impacts on tourism and its stakeholders and (2) the variety of the actors and the major issues pertaining their involvement in the sharing economy. By adopting an ecosystem approach, this chapter aims to contribute to the literature by providing a holistic multi-stakeholder, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary perspective of how we (should) understand and research the sharing economy in tourism. To achieve this, the chapter begins by clarifying the concept of the sharing economy and its overlaps with other related concepts such as gig, platform, collaborative, and peer-to-peer economy. This section concludes by developing a figure visualizing the four major sharing economy stakeholders, namely, platform; provider (i.e., micro-entrepreneurs, company, tourism gig worker) which includes the sub-economies of secondary entrepreneurs; seeker (e.g., tourist, seeker of resources); and environment/destination. The chapter continues by individual sections that each one discusses the research themes and gaps pertaining to each sharing actor and by concluding with ideas for future research.