The Impact of Technology-Mediated Consumption on Identity: the Case of Airbnb

Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2017 The Impact of Technology-Mediated Consumption on Identity: the Case of Airbnb Maria Festila Sune Dueholm Müller Aarhus University Aarhus University [email protected] [email protected] Abstract digital technologies are redefining consumption The affordances introduced by digital technologies practices by eliminating the economical and are reshaping consumption practices. Individuals are institutional reasons for unsustainable (i.e. having now engaging in networks rather than markets, and negative societal impact), individual and ownership- ownership-based consumption is giving way to the oriented consumption [27]. previously unattractive access-based, collaborative One type of collaborative consumption is access- consumption. Such consumption practices produce based consumption, consisting of “transactions that may different relationships between objects and personal be market mediated in which no transfer of ownership identity, on which there is limited research. By means of takes place” [2, p. 881]. Rather, consumers engage in an ethnographic study, we analyze the nature of networks that enable them to gain temporary access to consumer-object relationships in the context of Airbnb (underused) resources that are too costly or non-viable – a technology-mediated consumption model based on to own. These new consumption practices are shifting accessing private possessions. Our findings suggest that the sociocultural politics of consumption away from the the consumption experience is meaningful and self- historical normative power of ownership, towards the enriching if consumers identify with the accessed acceptance of the previously less desirable modes of consumption object. However, identification is consumption such as renting or bartering [2, 34]. compromised when there is a perceived mismatch, However, consumer research has historically diminishing the consumption experience. Nevertheless, centered its interest on ownership-based consumption, access-based consumption is sometimes a reﬂexive while alternative consumption modes have enjoyed strategy used to signal anti-consumption ideologies. We limited attention. Few exceptions are, among others, thus propose that technology-mediated, access-based Belk’s [7], [8] conceptual inquiries into the dynamics of consumption is challenging the normative power of sharing, Belk and Coon’s [6] study on the social and ownership in the construction of identity, changing the economic dimensions of gift exchange, and Chen’s [13] symbolic repertoire of the contemporary consumer. account of experiential access to art. These pioneering studies have shown that alternative modes of consumption are underlaid by different consumer desires and values. Moreover, while ownership is said 1. Introduction to contribute to and reflect consumers’ identities, embodying their experiences, ideals, and desires [5], During the last decade, we have witnessed a alternative consumption practices produce different proliferation of consumption models that encourage the object-self relationships, of which there is limited individual to step away from traditional markets and academic knowledge [2]. experience alternative modes of acquisition and In this paper, we focus on access-based consumption consumption that depart from the ideal of ownership [2]. practices enabled by digital technologies from the Most observers attribute this phenomenon to the perspective of the extended self [5]. In doing so, we affordances introduced by digital technologies, which attempt to shed some light on consumer identity projects encourage individuals to engage in networks rather than in the advent of the ‘sharing turn’ [24]. By means of an markets, renewing their inclination towards community ethnographic, exploratory study, we analyze the nature values [34] and ethical consumption [27]. By enabling of consumer-object relationships in the context of the coordination of activities in the form of “obtaining, technology-mediated home sharing practices. We giving, or sharing the access to goods and services … investigate the case of Airbnb – a consumption model through community-based online services” [27, p. 1], based on access to privately owned possessions. We URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/41157 ISBN: 978-0-9981331-0-2 CC-BY-NC-ND 54 thus address the research opportunities identified by supporting collaborative consumption of available, but Bardhi and Eckhart, who call for future papers to underutilized resources. examine the nature of access-based consumption While there is a consensus that such complex, large- contexts in which “identity and the hedonic value of the scale collaborative consumption models would not be objects are more salient” [2, p. 896]. We aim to answer possible without the affordances introduced by digital the following research question: technologies, other contributing factors have also been How does technology-mediated access-based suggested. Many contend that collaborative consumption influence identity construction? consumption is appealing because of the economic benefits it provides (e.g. lower costs), which was 2. Theoretical background essential to their spreading in the wake of the economic crisis of the late 2000s [2, 11, 41]. Others have argued that this phenomenon is fueled by a capitalist In this section, we first discuss the emergence of marketplace trading in cultural resources rather than collaborative consumption. We then review extant material objects [23, 43]. Ozanne and Ballantine [29] literature on identity construction through consumption, identified four types of consumers, each fueled by highlighting the knowledge gap we are addressing. different motives to pursue sharing and accessing goods, and conclude that collaborative consumption may be 2.1. Changing patterns of consumption one form of consumer resistance behavior. Bardhi and Eckhardt [2] propose that access-based Ownership has historically been perceived as the consumption, a form of collaborative consumption ultimate expression of consumption desire [2]. Because based on temporary access to goods, can vary across six consumers have a long-term interaction with owned dimensions: (1) temporality, (2) anonymity, (3) market consumption objects, these become crucial in mediation, (4) consumer involvement, (5) type of anchoring, displaying, and transforming the self over accessed object, and (6) political consumerism. Based time [5]. Moreover, because the individual has full on their framework, this study advances the current property rights, ownership acts like a self-to-other understanding of technology-enabled access-based boundary mechanism, privileging the owner to allow or consumption, by studying the case of Airbnb. However, deny others access to the owned possession [37]. because temporality, anonymity, and type of accessed Ideologically, ownership provides a sense of security object are context-dependent values, we exclude them and freedom, and a means to signal adulthood, from our analysis. Although they may vary across responsibility, and wealth [2]. In contrast, forms of contexts and shape consumption experiences, it is access such as renting or borrowing have historically beyond the purpose of this paper to analyze such been considered an inferior mode of consumption [35], differences. Instead, in trying to understand consumer signaling lower social status, and inferior financial well- identity projects in the Airbnb consumption context, it being [2]. However, in the context of an increasingly is considered particularly relevant to discuss issues of dynamic society characterized by dematerialization and market mediation, consumer involvement, and political flexible social structures [32], consumers’ attitudes consumerism, which directly relate to the ideological towards accessing goods are changing [2, 23]. [27] experiential [41], and social [34] values that are Increasing evidence suggests that traditional forms of said to fuel collaborative consumption practices. consumption are giving way to alternative consumption Market mediation. Access-based consumption practices [24] wherein sharing and access rather than models can be either market-mediated or non-market- ownership are the guiding norms. mediated [2]. On the one hand, there are those non-profit While the term “collaborative consumption” was organizations (e.g. CouchSurfing) where users gain originally coined by Felson and Spaeth [19] to describe access to others’ possessions without paying any “events in which one or more persons consume compensation. These models are more suggestive to the economic goods and services in the process of engaging anti-consumption ideology fueling collaborative in joint activities with one or more others” [19, p. 614], consumption. On the other hand, there are the for-profit the term is now associated with the digital revolution. organizations that developed C2C online business Developments in digital technologies not only facilitate models, allowing users to offer and gain access to co-creation of user-generated information goods, but the consumption objects in exchange of a fee (e.g. Airbnb). “collaborative spirit of the Internet” [11, p. 917] also Market involvement may, however, deter consumers changes individuals’ attitudes toward consumption of from identifying with the accessed object [2]. material goods and services. In the context of an Consumer involvement. The degree of consumer increasingly information-intensive society, the allure of

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