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Top1. Introduction
Information technology (IT) has enabled people to share new aspects of their lives, from cars to homes (Habibi & Kohli, 2022). These sharing practices have been described as a “sharing economy”(Oh, & Moon, 2016). Along with this trend, the sharing economy has become one of the most prominent topics in the computing research community, especially human-computer interaction (Lampinen et al., 2015). Consumer attitudes have changed and concerns about ecological, social, and developmental impact have increased (Albinsson & Perera, 2012). Indeed, public awareness of the environmental and ethical implications of mass consumption contributed to the emergence of the sustainable consumption concept around the beginning of the new millennium (OCSC, 2000). The Oxford Commission for Sustainable Consumption (OCSC) defines the concept as consumption that supports the ability of current and future generations to meet their material and other needs without causing irreversible damage to the environment or loss of function in natural systems. In pursuit of this ideal, diverse stakeholders (e.g., businesses, government agencies, and consumer advocates) have begun to develop initiatives to produce consumer goods that lower environmental impacts and, subsequently, provide positive social impacts (Cho, Gupta & Kim, 2015). Among the evolving examples of initiatives to promote sustainable consumption, collaborative consumption (CC) has emerged as a promising initiative for reducing consumer waste among diverse product categories (Akbar & Hoffman, 2022). Collaborative consumption represents a range of business models fundamentally based on deviations from traditional ownership, including renting, lending, bartering, and swapping products and services (Johnson, Mun & Chae, 2016).
One outcome of recent hyper-connectivity, in concert with the higher levels of efficiency and trust, has been peoples’ willingness to engage in all kinds of social and economic exchange with members of their extended digital networks (Hynes, 2021). Technology and the applications that come with it have changed the nature of activities ranging from dating (Tinder) to referencing (Wikipedia) to traveling (Airbnb) and our connectedness is changing how humans interact. In particular, more people are open to sharing. Whether photos, statuses, or breaking news, people are offering up more to their networks than ever before.
Despite growing practical importance, there is a lack of quantitative studies on motivational factors that affect participants’ attitudes and intentions towards CC. This article explores people’s motivations to participate in CC. For this, the article is structured as follows. The next section presents the theoretical framework and background for the hypotheses. This study adopts the lens of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in attitude formation and use intentions related to CC (Lindenberg, 2001). The context is of great interest since participation in CC communities and services is generally characterized as driven by obligation to do good for others and the environment, such as sharing, helping others and engaging in sustainable behavior (Prothero et al., 2011). However, CC may also provide economic benefits (saving money, facilitating access to resources, and free-riding), which constitute more individualistic reasons for participating. For these reasons, a real practical problem exists of how CC could become more widespread. In particular, the possible discrepancy between motivations and their effect on attitudes and behavior warrants an interesting context for research (Bray et al., 2011). And, theories on the development of the self-identity and the relationship between the self and objects of consumption suggest that the sharing of an object will be associated with closer perceived social distances (Belk, 1988). Belk’s (1988) work on the Extended Self-established the idea that people expand their concept of who they are to include their possessions and objects they consume. This study applies ideas on the extended self to P2P collaborative consumption and proposes that by sharing a personal object of consumption, perceived social distances will be closer, vis-à-vis B2C exchange.