COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION: A NEW FORM OF CONSUMPTION IN A CHANGING ECONOMY Katherine Schulist A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina Wilmington 2012 Approved by Advisory Committee Claire Auplat Noreen O‟Shea Vince Howe Chair Accepted by Dean, Graduate School TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 THESIS QUESTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 2 Secondary Research .................................................................................................................................... 2 Primary Research ........................................................................................................................................ 2 HYPOTHESIS ............................................................................................................................................ 4 COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION...................................................................................................... 4 Introduction of Collaborative Consumption ................................................................................................ 4 Technology and Collaborative Consumption .............................................................................................. 6 Trust and Collaborative Consumption ........................................................................................................ 8 Trust Building Mechanisms ........................................................................................................... 9 ECONOMIC INDICATORS .................................................................................................................... 10 Gross Domestic Product............................................................................................................... 11 Consumer Confidence .................................................................................................................. 13 CONSUMER HISTORY .......................................................................................................................... 13 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 13 Global Consumer History ......................................................................................................................... 14 ii Economic and Political Influence on Consumption .................................................................................. 16 United States Consumer History ............................................................................................................... 16 Industrial Revolution to Civil War ............................................................................................... 16 Turn of the Century to Depression Era......................................................................................... 17 Citizen Consumer vs. Purchaser Consumer ................................................................................. 18 World War Two ........................................................................................................................... 19 Post-World War Two ................................................................................................................... 20 THE EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING ................................................................................................. 23 PRIMARY RESEARCH ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 25 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 25 Income and the Economy.......................................................................................................................... 26 Section 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Section 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 28 Section 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 28 Section 4 ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Trust.......................................................................................................................................................... 30 Privacy ...................................................................................................................................................... 32 Miscellaneous Comments ......................................................................................................................... 32 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 33 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 37 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................. 40 iii Questionnaire ............................................................................................................................................ 40 Section One .................................................................................................................................. 40 Section Two ................................................................................................................................. 41 Section Three ............................................................................................................................... 41 Section Four ................................................................................................................................. 42 Section Five ................................................................................................................................. 42 iv ABSTRACT Through the study of consumer trends in modern western society, and research into factors that have influenced changes in consumption styles over the decades, it should be possible to ascertain whether or not collaborative consumption is a viable option for investment and growth opportunities in the current economy. Investors, entrepreneurs and job seekers should all be interested in the measure of stability in this new market. And as an area that has attracted a large amount of capital, a measure of the staying power of collaborative consumption is an important factor for the discussion of business in the world today. This paper attempts to determine whether or not consumers in the current recessive market environment would be more willing to work with collaborative consumption primarily due to the ability to save money while doing so, and if so, would they also be more likely to discontinue their collaborative consumption practices once the economy returns to a more stable form in which they are not as concerned with their incomes. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have contributed to my success in this program and completing my thesis over the past year. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Claire Auplat, for all of her patience with me and for all of her guidance about the writing of my thesis. Thank you to all of the respondents who took the time to fill out my questionnaire, and for all of their helpful comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank Nicolas Ferrary at Airbnb for taking the time to meet with me and for helping me find my direction with my thesis. It is also important for me to say a special thank you to Noreen O‟Shea for all of her help and kind words that made it possible for me to make it through a challenging semester while far away from home. Debra Berg is another person without whom I would not have made it through the semester, and I need to also take the time to recognize her willful determination and unending patience with me during my time in Paris. I must also acknowledge the support that was shared among all of the students in the inaugural Novancia IBSA class. The camaraderie that grew amongst the class members, and the teamwork and interaction in both good times and bad, helped make this program