Search results

This study aims to provide a taxonomy of relational benefits that drive customer loyalty in sharing-economy services, assess the relative strengths of these relational benefits in influencing customer loyalty and examine whether commitment mediates the influence of relational benefits on customer loyalty in this context.

Relational benefits of sharing-economy services were explored through a focus group interview, followed by an online survey completed by 440 respondents in China. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

This study shows that confidence and social benefits have significant and positive effects on commitment in sharing-economy services. In addition, safety benefits, a new type of relational benefits, also significantly affect commitment in this context. Furthermore, the findings suggest that commitment acts as a mediator between confidence, social and safety benefits and customer loyalty. Special treatment benefits had no effect on commitment and loyalty in the sharing-economy context.

This paper provides sharing-economy service providers with insight on how to better create and sustain loyal relationships with customers through the provision of relational benefits.

This study offers initial insight into why customers would stay in peer-to-peer relationships in the sharing economy, and suggests how to strengthen relationships between customers and peer service providers.

Using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this study explores the effect of religiosity, resource sharing and environmental attitudes on minimalist behaviour in sharing economy-based services and its subsequent influence on customer citizenship behaviour.

This research employed a descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional design, examining data from 530 Indian tourists who used sharing economy-based services. The proposed conceptual model was evaluated through partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), and the impact of control variables was examined via PLS-multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA).

The study findings validated that religiosity, resource sharing and environmental attitudes significantly foster minimalist behaviour in sharing economy-based services. This minimalist behaviour, in turn, positively impacts customer citizenship behaviour, affecting aspects such as tolerance, feedback, advocacy and assistance to others. The model's outcomes also indicated the substantial moderating roles of age and gender.

This study is novel in its exploration of how religiosity, resource sharing and environmental attitudes as stimuli can shape minimalist behaviour within sharing economy-based services and further influence customer citizenship behaviour. By uncovering the significant roles of age and gender in this context, the research offers unique insights into understanding the dynamics of consumer behaviour within the burgeoning sharing economy. The findings provide valuable direction for stakeholders in the sharing economy and policymakers aiming to cultivate positive consumer behaviours and advance the sector's sustainability.

As sharing economy has become increasingly popular, researchers from various disciplines begin to pay more attention to this important phenomenon. However, the current literature is fragmented and lacks a framework to integrate previous studies and guide future research. This study aims to systematically review the literature to better understand what one knows and what one need to know about sharing economy and provide a road map for future research in the context of sharing economy.

A systematic review was conducted with EBSCO and science direct database. In total, 91 studies were identified.

The review shows that previous studies focus on different stakeholders, including consumers, peer service providers, platform providers, and competitors. The authors further identify the main topics and limitations of the literature (integrated into a framework) and provide possible directions for future studies. For example, the authors find that few studies have examined individual and technical factors. The findings also show that consumers’ other activities and outcomes have received little attention. To address these limitations, future studies that examine how individual and technical characteristics influence sharing economy’s usage intention/behaviors are suggested. The authors also suggest future studies to explore other activities during the process of sharing economy services.

The framework and directions provided can further the sharing economy research by addressing important gaps in the current literature.

This review identifies many opportunities for researchers to better understand the phenomenon of sharing economy.

The study examines the influence of various congruity factors (economic, safety and Health, hedonic, and functional) on tourists' satisfaction with sharing economy-based services.

A single cross-sectional design is used in the study, with 513 travellers surveyed directly at three different tourist destinations in India. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling approach is used to analyse the data.

The research shows that congruity factors significantly influence tourists' satisfaction with sharing economy-based services. Moreover, satisfaction is strongly associated with recommendation intention for these services and customer loyalty. Additionally, the intention to recommend directly leads to increased customer loyalty.

The results offer pertinent insights for stakeholders in the sharing economy, including tourism marketers, policymakers and corporations. Aligning services with the identified congruity factors can enhance user satisfaction, boost recommendation rates and foster long-standing customer loyalty.

This study stands out for its thorough investigation into how congruity factors influence tourist satisfaction within the context of the sharing economy. Additionally, by focusing on specific demographic differentiators, such as age (gen Z or old gen) and gender (male or female), the study provides a nuanced understanding that enriches the existing body of knowledge.

The study examines the role of attitude, perceived relative advantage and perceived risk on intention to participate in the sharing economy–based cab services in India. Further, it investigates the impact of intention to participate in the sharing economy on transformation expectations of consumers. Finally, the study tests the moderating role of materialism in the relationship between intention to participate in the sharing economy and transformation expectations of consumers.

This study used cross-sectional survey research design to collect data from 408 respondents through online questionnaire in India, an emerging market. The study analysed the data using structural equation modelling technique using IBM AMOS software.

The findings of the study suggest that perceived relative advantage and attitude influences the intention to participate in the sharing economy. Intention to participate in the sharing economy positively influences transformation expectations. Materialism moderates the relationship between intention to participate and transformation expectations of consumers.

In a departure from previous studies, this study establishes that perceived risk may not be an important factor driving the intention to participate in the sharing economy. Further, it is among the first studies to establish the role of intention to participate in the sharing economy as a possible driver of transformation expectations.

The importance of transformation expectations can be communicated as an outcome to encourage participation in the sharing economy. Managers can highlight the relative advantages to promote participation in the sharing economy.

This study is probably the first attempt to understand the transformation expectations of consumers in the sharing economy. Further, the study tests the moderating role of materialism in the relationship between intention to participate and transformation expectation of consumers.

The purpose of this study is to integrate network externality and service quality as antecedents to the synthesis of expectation–confirmation model (ECM) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) in explaining customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms.

Sample data for this study were collected from students enrolled in a comprehensive university in Taipei, Taiwan. A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed in various campus locations, and 510 usable questionnaires were analyzed in this study, with a usable response rate of 85.0%. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The primary findings are as follows. First, service enablers’ online service quality positively affected customers’ perceived usefulness (PU), confirmation and PEOU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which directly or indirectly explained customers’ satisfaction and continuance intention of the platforms. Next, service providers’ offline service quality positively influenced customers’ PU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which in turn caused customers’ satisfaction and continuance intention of the platforms. Finally, network externality from customers’ side and service providers’ side all positively affected customers’ PU of internet-based sharing economy service platforms, which in turn led to customers’ continuance intention of the platforms.

First, this study contributes to the identification of network externality and service quality that may reveal deep insights to the understanding of customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms greatly driven by their confirmation of expectations and satisfaction with the platforms. Next, the empirical evidence on capturing ECM and PEOU for completely explaining the antecedents of customers’ continuance intention of internet-based sharing economy service platforms is well documented. Hence, this study’s findings have significantly shed light on the possible formulation of a richer post-adoption model.

Consumers’ intentions to participate in the sharing economy have received much attention from researchers in recent times. However, little attention has been paid to consumers’ actual participation in the sharing economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that drive customers in Ghana to use Uber.

The authors used surveys as the research design. There were 500 participants who were users of Uber. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires.

The findings of this study show that trust, customer return on investment and search convenience are the key factors that contribute to riders’ usage of Uber service. Furthermore, this study shows that consumers’ need for prestige and social connection do not play a significant role in consumers’ (riders’) usage of Uber services.

Studies investigating consumers’ participation in the sharing economy from an emerging economy context using the social exchange theory is limited. This study identifies elements of the economic and socio-emotional dimensions of the social exchange theory and the strength of their impact on people’s participation in the sharing economy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a categorization of sharing practices from a structured interdisciplinary literature review on the Sharing Economy. Instead of striving for a new definition, the authors distinguish nine types of sharing practices and provide an overview of prior investigations on sharing practices across three levels of analysis and 15 research areas. The structured analysis is translated into opportunities for future research on the Sharing Economy.

The study follows a structured literature review approach to uncover practices related to the Sharing Economy and similar phenomena. The authors analyze 210 articles from a broad number of disciplines, and develop a categorizing framework for Sharing Economy practices.

The paper identifies nine different types of sharing practices and provides a structured way for analyzing, comparing and positioning research on the Sharing Economy and related phenomena.

The categorization of sharing practices and the embedded interdisciplinary overview of studies on the Sharing Economy help to explain potentially contradictory research results and uncovers opportunities for future research in the topic area.

Given the variety of disciplines dealing with the Sharing Economy and the plenitude of definitions and related concepts, the categorization and research overview provides a consolidated view of the knowledge in the topic area and an effective tool for identifying paths for future research.

We are currently witnessing a new wave of the digital economy. A prime example is the sharing economy where an organization operates a platform for its online community, the sum of individuals who interact to exchange goods and services. The sharing economy blurs several boundaries of economic life – a fact that extant theory on platform organizing has yet paid little attention. We argue to consider two aspects of the sharing economy and revisit related theory to address this lacuna. First, we revive the concept of hybrid community to denote a variant of an online community that mirrors the boundary-blurring nature of the sharing economy. In a hybrid community, individuals interact both online and offline (instead of only online) and consume as well as produce. Second, we revisit the range of strategic responses suggested by extant literature to minimize the dependence of a platform organization on its hybrid community and show that the sharing economy requires management research to adapt and potentially recast existing claims.

The purpose of this paper is to present exciting and innovative research questions in service operations that are aligned with eight key themes and related topics determined by the Journal of Service Management (JOSM) Service Operations Expert Research Panel. By offering a good number of such research questions, this paper provides a broad range of ideas to spur conceptual and empirical research related to service operations and encourage the continued creation of deep knowledge within the field, as well as collaborative research across disciplines that develops and incorporates insights from service operations.

Based on a Delphi study, described in the companion article, “Service Operations: What Have We Learned?,” the panel identified eight key research themes in service operations where leading-edge research is being done or has yet to be done (Victorino et al., 2018). In this paper, three or four topics within each theme are selected and multiple questions for each topic are proposed to guide research efforts. The topics and questions, while wide-ranging, are only representative of the many ongoing research opportunities related to service operations.

The field of service operations has many interesting research topics and questions that are largely unexplored. Furthermore, these research areas are not only increasingly integrative across multiple themes within operations but often transcend functional disciplines. This creates opportunities for ever more impactful research with a greater reach throughout the service system and suggests that service researchers, regardless of functional affiliation, can contribute to the ongoing conversation on the role of service operations in value creation.

Leveraging the collective knowledge of the JOSM Service Operations Expert Research Panel to expand on the research themes generated from the Delphi study, novel questions for future study are put forward. Recognizing that the number of potential research questions is virtually unlimited, summary questions by theme and topic are also provided. These questions represent a synopsis of the individual questions and can serve as a quick reference guide for researchers interested in pursuing new directions in conceptual and empirical research in service operations. This summary also serves as a framework to facilitate the formulation of additional research topics and questions.