Understanding why people share in the sharing economy

The sharing economy is an emerging trend that takes advantage of underused assets and generates enormous amount of economic value. However, little research has been done to understand the factors that drive people to share assets.

This study develops two models, one based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and another based on social capital theory (SCT), to explain why individuals want to share their assets with others. An Internet survey is conducted to collect data and test the proposed models. Most of respondents were members of Airbnb or Uber – accommodation sharing and taxi services.

The results show that the TPB model has greater explanatory power than the SCT model. The individual's motivations, attitude, perceived behavioral control, facilitating technological conditions and identification with the community increase their intention to share assets.

This study distinguishes asset suppliers from consumers to clearly understand the factors that influence the intention to provide underused assets. The research findings can help companies participating in the sharing economy to induce people to share.