Critical Success Factors for Peer-to-Peer platforms in the Sharing Economy Thesis MSc. Business Administration Entrepreneurship & Innovation Author Tim de Jong Student number 10599185 Date 04-11-2015 Version Final Supervisor dr. W. van der Aa 1 With the limited resources we have on the earth, the next step for conservation is instead of just buying stuff, sharing stuff Zilok CEO On the whole, you find wealth much more in use than in ownership Aristotle 2 Statement of originality This document is written by Student Tim de Jong who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents. 3 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 6 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 7 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Environmental degradation ........................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Sharing Economy - The Resource saving economy ...................................................................... 8 1.3 Theoretical relevance .................................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Managerial relevance .................................................................................................................. 11 1.5 Structure ...................................................................................................................................... 11 2. Theoretical background .................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Collaborative economy ................................................................................................................ 12 2.2 Collaborative Consumption ......................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Sharing Economy ........................................................................................................................ 14 2.3.1 Sharing .................................................................................................................................. 15 2.3.2 The rise of the sharing economy .......................................................................................... 15 2.4 The critical success factors .......................................................................................................... 16 2.4.2 Trust between strangers ........................................................................................................ 18 2.4.3 Idling capacity ...................................................................................................................... 19 2.4.4 Critical mass ......................................................................................................................... 20 3. Conceptual model ............................................................................................................................ 22 3.1 Literature findings ....................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 The conceptual model ................................................................................................................. 24 4. Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 27 4.1 Research approach ....................................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Research design ........................................................................................................................... 27 4.3 Research method ......................................................................................................................... 28 4.4 Research strategy ......................................................................................................................... 28 4.5 Data collection ............................................................................................................................. 29 4.5.1 Research sample ................................................................................................................... 29 4.5.2 Interview ............................................................................................................................... 30 4.5.3 Interview guide ..................................................................................................................... 31 4.5.4 Location ................................................................................................................................ 31 4.6 Data analysis................................................................................................................................ 31 4.6.1 Transcribing .......................................................................................................................... 31 4.6.2 Coding .................................................................................................................................. 31 5. Interview results .............................................................................................................................. 32 4 5.1 The Critical Success Factors ....................................................................................................... 33 5.1.1 Belief in Commons ............................................................................................................... 33 5.1.2 Trust between strangers ........................................................................................................ 34 5.1.3 Idling capacity ...................................................................................................................... 35 5.1.4 Critical mass ......................................................................................................................... 36 5.1.5 Additional CSF’s .................................................................................................................. 38 5.2 Relation between CSF’s .............................................................................................................. 40 5.3 Extra results ................................................................................................................................. 40 6. Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 42 6.1 The Critical Success Factors ....................................................................................................... 42 6.1.1 The four CSF’s ..................................................................................................................... 43 6.1.2 Additional CSF’s .................................................................................................................. 47 6.2 The relation between the CSF’s and revision of the conceptual model ...................................... 49 7. Limitations and implications .......................................................................................................... 51 7.1 Limitations................................................................................................................................... 51 7.2 Theoretical and managerial implications ..................................................................................... 52 7.2.1 Theoretical implications ....................................................................................................... 52 7.2.2 Managerial implications ....................................................................................................... 52 8. Conclusion & future research ........................................................................................................ 54 8.1 Further research ........................................................................................................................... 55 9. References ........................................................................................................................................ 58 10. Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... 64 Appendix A – E-mail to potential interviewees ................................................................................ 64 Appendix B – Interview guide .......................................................................................................... 65 Appendix C - Coding scheme ........................................................................................................... 67 Figures Figure one: Conceptual model ...............................................................................................................26