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1 – 10 of over 6000Jiang Jiang, Eldon Y. Li and Li Tang
Trust plays a crucial role in overcoming uncertainty and reducing risks. Uncovering the trust mechanism in the sharing economy may enable sharing platforms to design more…
Abstract
Purpose
Trust plays a crucial role in overcoming uncertainty and reducing risks. Uncovering the trust mechanism in the sharing economy may enable sharing platforms to design more effective marketing strategies. However, existing studies have inconsistent conclusions on the trust mechanism in the sharing economy. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the antecedents and consequences of different dimensions of trust (trust in platform and trust in peers) in the sharing economy.
Design/methodology/approach
First, we conducted a meta-analysis of 57 related articles. We tested 13 antecedents of trust in platform (e.g. economic benefits, enjoyment, and information quality) and eight antecedents of trust in peers (e.g. offline service quality and providers’ reputation), as well as their consequences. Then, we conducted subgroup analyses to test the moderating effects of economic development level (Developed vs Developing), gender (Female-dominant vs Male-dominant), platform type (Accommodation vs Transportation), role type (Obtainers vs Providers), and uncertainty avoidance (Strong vs Weak).
Findings
The results confirm that all antecedents and consequences significantly affect trust in platform or peers to varying degrees. Moreover, trust in platform greatly enhances trust in peers. Besides, the results of the moderating effect analyses demonstrate the variability of antecedents and consequences of trust under different subgroups.
Originality/value
This paper provides a clear and holistic view of the trust mechanism in the sharing economy from an object-based trust perspective. The findings may offer insights into trust-building in the sharing economy.
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The sharing economy has evolved as a result of the diffusion of information and communication technology and facilitates collaborative consumption and production otherwise known…
Abstract
Purpose
The sharing economy has evolved as a result of the diffusion of information and communication technology and facilitates collaborative consumption and production otherwise known as value co-creation. The present research aims to explore the consumer responses to value co-creation in sharing economy such as satisfaction, brand preference and enduring buyer–platform relationships, amid consumer's CSR concerns.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the sharing economy and value co-creation literature and rooted in the stimulus-organism-response framework, an online panel data provider was employed to recruit 393 actual sharing economy consumers from the United States. Empirical analyses are performed using structural equation modeling through Amos, version.27.
Findings
Findings confirm that value co-creation intentions contribute to consumers' satisfaction, brand preference and sustainable social relationships in the sharing economy. As expected, heightened concerns of corporate social responsibility (CSR) led to decreased consumer satisfaction with the sharing economy platform.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the digital sharing economy literature by emphasizing the role of CSR perceptions for building long-term relationships (buyer–platform relationships) where value co-creation is crucial.
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Xiaogang Cao, Jing Yuan, Hui Wen and Cuiwei Zhang
Different information sharing mechanisms and online platform information sharing to different charging models are compared and analyzed.
Abstract
Purpose
Different information sharing mechanisms and online platform information sharing to different charging models are compared and analyzed.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses the Stackelberg game model to study the demand information sharing and pricing decisions.
Findings
The results show that: (1) the retailer's pricing strategy is the highest when both of them obtain information, while the manufacturer's pricing strategy is affected by the related attributes of different products, such as the sensitivity of consumers to product prices; (2) in the online platform sales model, the demand information data sharing owned by the online platform can bring more expected profits to the whole supply chain and the members of the supply chain, and the higher the accuracy of the information, the higher the expected profit; (3) when the cost of obtaining demand information is zero, that is, the online platform shares the information data about market demand free of charge, the retailer and manufacturer tend to obtain information; (4) for the online platform, charging a certain fee can achieve higher expected profits than free sharing.
Originality/value
Based on the single platform online sales model, this paper uses the Stackelberg game model to study the demand information sharing and pricing decision of a manufacturer and a retailer selling products through the same online platform.
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Sihong Wu and Maureen Benson-Rea
Despite a growing body of research focusing on the dark side of sharing economy development, arguments are fragmented and incomplete. This study aims to address the gap by…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite a growing body of research focusing on the dark side of sharing economy development, arguments are fragmented and incomplete. This study aims to address the gap by integrating existing viewpoints based on a provider’s perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a bibliometric analysis using text mining and clustering algorithm techniques to measure the scope of scientific output on this topic and identify the main research themes.
Findings
Through the bibliometric analysis, this study developed an integrative framework based on the platform providers’ internal management issues and external conflicts with consumers, society, government regulations and traditional business. It also identified significant gaps within each research theme and proposed a future research agenda.
Originality/value
Sharing economy development has not yet been fully understood and regulated, leading to unprecedented challenges to existing business systems. The study addresses knowledge gaps and advances the understanding of the dark side of the sharing economy based on the provider’s internal management and interplay with external forces. It offers a roadmap for future research to advance understanding of the “hidden” dark side of the sharing economy.
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Wenbo Li, Bin Dan, Xumei Zhang, Yi Liu and Ronghua Sui
With the rapid development of the sharing economy in manufacturing industries, manufacturers and the equipment suppliers frequently share capacity through the third-party…
Abstract
Purpose
With the rapid development of the sharing economy in manufacturing industries, manufacturers and the equipment suppliers frequently share capacity through the third-party platform. This paper aims to study influences of manufacturers sharing capacity on the supplier and to analyze whether the supplier shares capacity as well as its influences.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper deals with conditions that the supplier and manufacturers share capacity through the third-party platform, and the third-party platform competes with the supplier in equipment sales. Considering the heterogeneity of the manufacturer's earning of unit capacity usage and the production efficiency of manufacturer's usage strategies, this paper constructs capacity sharing game models. Then, model equilibrium results under different sharing scenarios are compared.
Findings
The results show that when the production or maintenance cost is high, manufacturers sharing capacity simultaneously benefits the supplier, the third-party platform and manufacturers with high earnings of unit capacity usage. When both the rental efficiency and the production cost are low, or both the rental efficiency and the production cost are high, the supplier simultaneously sells equipment and shares capacity. The supplier only sells equipment in other cases. When both the rental efficiency and the production cost are low, the supplier’s sharing capacity realizes the win-win-win situation for the supplier, the third-party platform and manufacturers with moderate earnings of unit capacity usage.
Originality/value
This paper innovatively examines supplier's selling and sharing decisions considering manufacturers sharing capacity. It extends the research on capacity sharing and is important to supplier's operational decisions.
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Mojtaba Barari, Mitchell Ross, Sara Thaichon and Jiraporn Surachartkumtonkun
Recent literature on customer engagement has introduced the concept of “actor engagement,” which serves as the foundation for this study. The study aims to investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent literature on customer engagement has introduced the concept of “actor engagement,” which serves as the foundation for this study. The study aims to investigate the formation of engagement and engagement's impact on the performance of sharing economy platforms in an international context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyses unstructured data from 145,434 service providers and 1,703,266 customers on Airbnb across seven countries (USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, China and Singapore). Machine learning techniques are used to measure actor engagement, and the research model is tested using structural equation modelling (SEM).
Findings
The findings suggest that actor engagement, encompassing the reciprocal relationship between customer engagement and service provider engagement, has a significant impact on platform performance. The moderator analysis highlights the role of cultural differences in the relationship between customer engagement and service provider engagement and between actor engagement and platform performance. Specifically, the study reveals that actor engagement exhibits a more pronounced impact on platform performance in Western countries (such as the USA, Australia and the UK), compared to Eastern countries (such as China and Singapore).
Research limitations/implications
The analysis of the conceptual model is based on the utilisation of behavioural data obtained from the Airbnb website. Due to the nature of the available data, proxies are employed as measures for variables such as platform performance.
Originality/value
This research is amongst the first to provide empirical evidence for actor engagement formation and the function's role in platform performance in the sharing economy. The global nature of Airbnb as a platform facilitates the investigation of country-level factors, specifically cultural values, across seven diverse countries and highlight differences from business to customer (B2C) business models.
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Laura Michelini, Cecilia Grieco and Nikolay Dentchev
The purpose of the paper is to explore how collaborations can increase the impact of food sharing platforms, which offer the potential to reduce food waste by facilitating contact…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to explore how collaborations can increase the impact of food sharing platforms, which offer the potential to reduce food waste by facilitating contact between suppliers and consumers. With this comes the need to address the twofold challenge of being digital and having an economic and social-environmental mission. Thus, adopting a system perspective and recognizing stakeholders as part of a value network can maximize the generated impact.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study analysis has been conducted on 12 food sharing platforms. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews, triangulated with internal and external documents and content analysed.
Findings
The research outlines the systems of collaboration found in food sharing platforms characterized by two levels of actors (platform players and business players) and five different types of collaboration that can help platforms maximize their impact (boosting the network effect; capturing value; enhancing the business model; extending the type of impact; and scaling up).
Originality/value
The research offers important contributions for the advancement of the field, adding evidence on the opportunities offered by collaborations to generate impact for business and society in the context of the sharing economy and food industry. The research allows to identify the concept of “sustainability-oriented sharing platforms” as a subset of sharing economy platforms characterized by a dual mission and related challenges. From a managerial point of view, the study highlights how designing and implementing collaborations with the stakeholders can increase platforms' impact consistently with the life cycle and short- and long-term perspectives.
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Peng Liu, Rong Zhang, Ya Wang, Hailong Yang and Bin Liu
In recent years, private brands for e-commerce platforms have experienced rapid growth. However, whether these platforms developing private brands should share their demand…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, private brands for e-commerce platforms have experienced rapid growth. However, whether these platforms developing private brands should share their demand information with others and how such information sharing affects the sales format selection of national brand manufacturers have puzzled firm managers in practice. This paper aims to investigate the information-sharing strategy for the e-commerce platform and its influence on the sales format selection in the presence of the private brand.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a game-theoretical model to examine the interaction between the information-sharing strategy and sales format selection in a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a platform that operates a private brand.
Findings
The equilibrium results show that when the commission rate is low, the manufacturer favors agency selling, and the platform shares demand information with the manufacturer; when the commission rate is high, the manufacturer prefers reselling, and the platform does not share the information. This preference is affected by information forecasting accuracy; as the information forecasting accuracy increases, the manufacturer prefers to adopt agency selling, and the platform tends to share the information. Interestingly, under agency selling, sharing information with the manufacturer can increase the platform’s profit from selling the private brand and achieve a win-win situation for them. Furthermore, we show that the manufacturer can inspire the platform to share the information with himself by adopting agency selling, whereas the platform sharing the information improves the probability that the manufacturer adopts agency selling. Moreover, the manufacturer may have a first-mover advantage. In particular, the manufacturer moving first increases the likelihood that the manufacturer chooses agency selling and the platform shares the information.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to sales format literature by exploring the effect of information sharing strategy on sales format selection in the presence of the private brand and can help manufacturers and platforms to make suitable decisions regarding information sharing and sales format selection.
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Mengying Zhang, Zhennan Yuan and Ningning Wang
We explore the driving forces behind the channel choices of the manufacturer and the platform by considering asymmetric selling cost and demand information.
Abstract
Purpose
We explore the driving forces behind the channel choices of the manufacturer and the platform by considering asymmetric selling cost and demand information.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops game-theoretical models to study different channel strategies for an E-commerce supply chain, in which a manufacturer distributes products through a platform that may operate in either the marketplace channel or the reseller channel.
Findings
Three primary models are built and analyzed. The comparison results show that the platform would share demand information in the reseller channel only if the service cost performance is relatively high. Besides, with an increasing selling cost, the equilibrium channel might shift from the marketplace to the reseller. With increasing information accuracy, the manufacturer tends to select the marketplace channel, while the platform tends to select the reseller channel if the service cost performance is low and tends to select the marketplace channel otherwise.
Practical implications
All these results have been numerically verified in the experiments. At last, we also resort to numerical study and find that as the service cost performance increases, the equilibrium channel may shift from the reseller channel to the marketplace channel. These results provide managerial guidance to online platforms and manufacturers regarding strategic decisions on channel management.
Originality/value
Although prior research has paid extensive attention to the driving forces behind the online channel choice between marketplace and reseller, there is at present few study considering the case where a manufacturer selling through an online platform faces a demand information disadvantage in the reseller channel and sales inefficiency in the marketplace channel. To fill this research gap, our work illustrates the interaction between demand information asymmetry and selling cost asymmetry to identify the equilibrium channel strategy and provides useful managerial guidelines for both online platforms and manufacturers.
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Presently, existing electric car sharing platforms are based on a centralized architecture which are faced with inadequate trust and pricing issues as these platforms requires an…
Abstract
Purpose
Presently, existing electric car sharing platforms are based on a centralized architecture which are faced with inadequate trust and pricing issues as these platforms requires an intermediary to maintain users’ data and handle transactions between participants. Therefore, this article aims to develop a decentralized peer-to-peer electric car sharing prototype framework that offers trustable and cost transparency.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a systematic review and data were collected from the literature and existing technical report documents after which content analysis is carried out to identify current problems and state-of-the-art electric car sharing. A use case scenario was then presented to preliminarily validate and show how the developed prototype framework addresses the trust-lessness in electric car sharing via distributed ledger technologies (DLTs).
Findings
Findings from this study present a use case scenario that depicts how businesses can design and implement a distributed peer-to-peer electric car sharing platforms based on IOTA technology, smart contracts and IOTA eWallet. Main findings from this study unlock the tremendous potential of DLT to foster sustainable road transportation. By employing a token-based approach this study enables electric car sharing that promotes sustainable road transportation.
Practical implications
Practically the developed decentralized prototype framework provides improved cost transparency and fairness guarantees as it is not based on a centralized price management system. The DLT based decentralized prototype framework aids to orchestrate the incentivize monetization and rewarding mechanisms among participants that share their electric cars enabling them to collaborate towards lessening CO2 emissions.
Social implications
The findings advocate that electric vehicle sharing has become an essential component of sustainable road transportation by increasing electric car utilization and decreasing the number of vehicles on the road.
Originality/value
The key novelty of the article is introducing a decentralized prototype framework to be employed to develop an electric car sharing solution without a central control or governance, which improves cost transparency. As compared to prior centralized platforms, the prototype framework employs IOTA technology smart contracts and IOTA eWallet to improve mobility related services.
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