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Actor opportunism, social capital and coping strategies in the sharing economy: drivers, outcomes and marketing implications

Swapnil Saravade (Marketing Department, Woodbury School of Business, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah, USA)
Reto Felix (Department of Marketing, Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, USA)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 24 September 2024

Issue publication date: 15 November 2024

233

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a conceptual understanding of the drivers and outcomes of actor opportunism in the context of the three key actors of the sharing economy – the service provider, the platform and the consumer.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses a conceptual approach by drawing on literature from within and outside of marketing.

Findings

The current research introduces a conceptual framework of opportunism in the sharing economy with seven underlying propositions. The framework posits a U-shaped moderating effect of social capital for the relationship between opportunism and its drivers, actor vulnerability and asset specificity. Furthermore, a 2 × 2 matrix consisting of two types of opportunistic behaviors (active and passive) and two coping strategies by other actors (defensive and nondefensive) suggests that passive opportunism tends to lead to value codestruction independently of the coping strategies employed by other actors. Counterintuitively, the combination of active opportunism and defensive coping strategy presents an opportunity for value cocreation due to its potential to break up older structures and generate new ones.

Research limitations/implications

While our research provides a higher-level understanding of opportunism pertaining to platform, consumers and service providers in the sharing economy, future research could situate our framework within specific regulatory environments, incorporate the role of competitors and examine individual interaction effects between type of opportunism and coping strategies.

Practical implications

The framework enables service providers, platforms and consumers to identify drivers of opportunistic behaviors of their partners and discern instances in which opportunistic behaviors lead to value codestruction for all actors.

Originality/value

This research transcends prior work on the bright and dark sides of the sharing economy by identifying its dynamic nature and examining the contributing role of opportunism.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Citation

Saravade, S. and Felix, R. (2024), "Actor opportunism, social capital and coping strategies in the sharing economy: drivers, outcomes and marketing implications", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 9, pp. 1995-2030. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2023-0054

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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