Unpacking the Sharing Economy: From Participation to Impact

The research as proposed aims at decreasing consumer resistance towards peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing, increasing sharing activity and decreasing so-called rebound behavior. In the context of P2P sharing rebound behavior constitutes the increase in consumption of (other) products or services due to economic savings or earnings from sharing. The candidate's research will be conducted in three phases. In the first phase the candidate qualitatively explores users' motivation and rebound behavior as well as non-users' resistance towards P2P sharing (1st article). In the second phase the candidate tests the findings from the qualitative analysis via two quantitative analyses. The first analysis examines users' motivations and rebound behavior and is conceptually based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm theory (2nd article). The second analysis investigates non-users' resistance and is conceptually based on the key barriers to product and service innovation (3rd article). In the third phase the candidate examines behavioral change mechanisms designed to minimize rebound and maximize sharing behavior via two online and one field experiment (4th article). The online experiments assess the effectiveness of the change mechanisms on subjects' sharing and rebound intention. The field experiment implements and tests the two most promising mechanisms of the online experiment over a period of six-months. All change mechanisms are based on the Positive Social Change Framework.