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Trust in the Sharing Economy: a Behavioral Perspective on Peer-To-Peer Markets

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Trust in the Sharing Economy: a Behavioral Perspective on Peer-To-Peer Markets Trust in the Sharing Economy: A Behavioral Perspective on Peer-to-Peer Markets Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Dr. rer. pol.) von der KIT-Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften des Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) genehmigte DISSERTATION von M.Sc. Florian Hawlitschek Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 08.08.2018 Referent: Prof. Dr. Christof Weinhardt Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Henner Gimpel Karlsruhe, 2018 I II Trust in the Sharing Economy A Behavioral Perspective on Peer-to-Peer Markets 1 2 Abstract The sharing economy has shaped consumer behavior around the globe and disrupted a broad variety of traditional industries. The rapid development of this technology-driven phenomenon has led to a plethora of platforms and business models that are subsumed under the blurry sharing economy umbrella term. From a scientific point of view, pinning down and understanding this broad, complex and constantly evolving socio-technical system is not an easy task. This cumulative dissertation sheds light on consumer motives for and against the participation in the sharing economy. In particular, trust is identified as a key driver of sharing economy adoption. Consequently, a conceptualization and different means of measurement for trust in the sharing economy are introduced. Furthermore, two approaches for building trust through platform design are investigated and discussed. The work is concluded with an outlook on the possible role of blockchain technology for the sharing economy and suggestions for future research. 3 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my colleagues and friends at the Institute of Information Systems and Marketing at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for their advice and support. In particular, I want to thank the “Rocket Science Fiction Lab” and all affiliated researchers. Special thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Timm-Christopher Teubner for his longstanding cooperation and support. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Christof Weinhardt for creating the inspiring and challenging environment that provided the fundament of my work. Finally, my special thanks goes to my wife and family. 5 6 Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 9 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................. 13 PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE SHARING ECONOMY .............. 17 CHAPTER 1: THE RISE OF THE SHARING ECONOMY ........................................................... 19 MOTIVATION AND INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 19 RESEARCH AGENDA AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................................... 21 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Survey-based Research ...................................................................................................................... 24 Experimental Economics ................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2: SHARING ECONOMY CONSUMER MOTIVES: THE ROLE OF TRUST ..... 28 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 28 FOUNDATIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Theory of Planned Behavior .............................................................................................................. 29 Peer-to-peer Sharing & Co-Usage ..................................................................................................... 29 MATERIALS, METHODS, AND THEORY ........................................................................................................ 31 Hypothesis Development ................................................................................................................... 34 SURVEY DESIGN AND RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 41 Results ................................................................................................................................................. 41 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................................... 44 Theoretical Implications .................................................................................................................... 44 Practical Implications ........................................................................................................................ 45 Limitations and Future Research ..................................................................................................... 46 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 46 PART II: TRUST IN THE SHARING ECONOMY ................................ 49 CHAPTER 3: MEASURING TRUST ................................................................................................ 51 TRUSTING BELIEFS: A SURVEY-BASED APPROACH............................................................. 51 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 51 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND & RESEARCH MODEL .................................................................................... 53 Measuring Trust in E-Commerce ...................................................................................................... 53 Towards a Research Model of Trust for C2C Sharing Economy Platforms .................................. 54 METHODOLOGY: SURVEY DESIGN .............................................................................................................. 56 Measurement Model and Survey ...................................................................................................... 57 Exploratory Factor Analysis ............................................................................................................. 57 Reconsideration of Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 58 DISCUSSION ...............................................................................................................................................60 LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 61 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 61 TRUST-RELATED BEHAVIOR: AN EXPERIMENTAL FRAMEWORK ....................................... 63 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 63 AN EXPERIMENTAL FRAMEWORK FOR TRUST IN THE SHARING ECONOMY ................................................. 64 Trust in the Sharing Economy .......................................................................................................... 65 The Trust Game .................................................................................................................................. 66 Experimental Framework: The Sharing Game ............................................................................... 67 USE CASE: USER REPRESENTATION AND TRUST ......................................................................................... 70 Theoretical Background and Research Model ................................................................................. 70 7 Experimental Evaluation ................................................................................................................... 72 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH AGENDA ....................................................................................... 73 THE SHARING GAME IN THE LABORATORY: A PILOT STUDY .............................................. 75 CHAPTER 4: BUILDING TRUST .................................................................................................... 79 PLATFORM DESIGN FOR TRUST: THE CASE OF SHAREWOOD-FOREST ................................ 79 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 79 BASIC PLATFORM DESIGN OF SHAREWOOD-FOREST ................................................................................. 80 EVALUATION AND CONTRIBUTION .............................................................................................................. 82
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