Conceptualizing the Sharing Economy through Presenting a Comprehensive Framework

• Main Authors: Meisam Ranjbari, Gustavo Morales-Alonso, Ruth Carrasco-Gallego
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-07-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sharing economy (SE); sustainability; idle capacity; collaborative consumption; under-utilized assets; online platform; access versus ownership
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2336

In recent years, through the advances in technology and highlighting the sustainability concepts in different aspects of human lives, the sharing economy has become an interesting topic for researchers, and also, many businesses claim to be active in this environment. However, a comprehensive definition, which is generally accepted, does not yet exist in the literature. In this paper, through a systematic literature review, analysis, and coding, a comprehensive definition, and also, an inclusive framework is presented for the sharing economy. This can help scientists and businesses to clarify which companies or parts of their activities fall into the SE category, and which do not. Such clarification in a small scale is done for five companies at the end of the paper.