Sharing for people, planet or profit? Analysing motivations for intended sharing economy participation

TLDR: In this article, the authors investigate the relative importance of economic, social, social and environmental motivations to participate in peer-to-peer sharing and find that users seem more economically motivated than providers of goods.

Abstract: The sharing economy is a fast-growing and heavily debated phenomenon. This study provides an overview of motivations of people willing to participate in different forms of the sharing economy. A survey was held amongst 1330 respondents from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Using stated preference data, we investigate the relative importance of (1) economic, (2) social and (3) environmental motivations to participate in peer-to-peer sharing. Hereby we consider differences between (a) sectors of the sharing economy, (b) socio-demographic groups, and (c) users and providers. Results are descriptive as well as based on ordered logit models. Notable differences are observed in the motivations for sharing between sectors. To a lesser extent there is variety in sharing drivers between socio-demographic groups. Finally, users seem more economically motivated than providers of goods.