Is the sharing economy a sustainable mode of consumption? An empirical case study of sharing of household goods and environmental rebound effects in a university context

The Sharing Economy has been suggested as a sustainable mode of consumption due to its potential to lower resource use and waste generation. A better understanding of sharing drivers, consumption dynamics, and their interlinkages is essential to suitably appraise the role that sharing practices can play in sustainable transitions. A survey of 654 participants from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Switzerland) was carried out in order to investigate their household goods sharing practices. Among the participants, 328 people that borrowed household goods (takers) were identified and their responses were analysed to find motives and barriers for sharing household goods. Furthermore, Environmental Rebound Effects (EREs) were investigated with the consideration of psychological and economic factors that may influence them. The findings indicate that attitudes towards sharing household goods are most positively influenced by expected environmental impacts followed by enjoyment, economic savings, and social interactions. Negative influences include concerns about a potential loss of independence and lack of trust in people. However, it also turned out that EREs actually amounted to 102%, indicating that the motivating (direct) environmental benefits from sharing tend to be fully compensated for by the negative impacts derived from subsequent re-spending. The imperfect substitution of sharing and the moral licensing effect contributed to this result. Furthermore, consumers’ sharing rationale significantly influences the magnitude of EREs; either increased by economic motivations, or decreased by environmental motivations. Based on our results, we suggest that, to ensure the implementation of the Sharing Economy as a sustainable mode of consumption, it is necessary to increase awareness of the environmental rebound effects caused by re-spending. Consumers could thus be more motivated to share for environmental reasons, identify themselves with sustainability and decide to abstain from morally licensing themselves to re-spend their extra disposable income on Carbon Footprint intense activities.