The benefits of the collaborative economy for financially constrained consumers : the case of second-hand buy-and-sell platforms[Les Benefices De L’Economie Collaborative Pour Les Consommateurs Financierement Contraints : Le Cas Des Sites D’Achat/Vente De Seconde Main]

The present research fuels the debate about the opportunity of collaborative economy to "empower" low-income consumers. More precisely, it questions whether the economic and psychological benefits derived from the buy-and-sell activities on collaborative Internet platforms vary across users' income levels. A questionnaire was administered in May 2016 to a sample of 734 female respondents, recruited in France's poorest region, and over-representing the lower categories of incomes. Results indicate that all users derive economic benefits from their buy-and-sell activities on collaborative platforms. However, when it comes to psychological benefits, low and high-income consumers show a different pattern of results: whereas high-income respondents derive psychological benefits from their buy-and-sell activity itself, poor people do not directly associate psychological benefits from such activity, but only through the mediation of perceived economic benefits.