A netnographic study of P2P collaborative consumption platforms’ user interface and design

Abstract

Although still embryonic, collaborative consumption and the sharing economy have become social and economic phenomena in just a few short years, yet there is little consensus on how to define them. The current classificatory schema or typologies of platforms have some weaknesses. Sectoral classifications, technological functionality, and discursive modes of understanding sharing and collaborative economies all provide valuable insights, but when taken individually important gaps are evident, not least in their inter-system isolation, but most particularly when technology, such as platform architecture and user interfaces, is disassociated from wider social and economic conditions of possibility. In order to build on previous research we set out to develop a more complex understanding of collaborative consumption by studying platform architecture, interface, design and informational content to examine how technological affordances of digital platforms' structure social interaction. In order to carry out the research we designed a netnographic protocol that systematised data collection across four dimensions of platforms' technological structure and informational content: functionality and usability; trust and virtual reputation; codes of conduct and community footprint. Data was collected on fifty-five platforms, including forty-seven across Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as eight international platforms. Following factor and cluster analysis, and on the basis of the theoretical understandings of the sharing and collaborative economy, we developed a typology that grouped platforms into three groups: network, transaction and community oriented.

No one rides for free! Three styles of collaborative consumption

“…Most collaborative consumption practices are made easier by online platforms such as Airbnb facilitating accommodation rental (Bucher et al, 2016;Habibi et al, 2016;Huber, 2017;Zervas et al, 2017), or LeBonCoin facilitating goods rental and second-hand sales (Herbert and Collin-Lachaud, 2017;Parguel et al, 2017;Philip et al, 2015). The main activities of a dual-sided platform relate to optimizing the exchange organization between peers and their competitive objectives (i.e., two distinct but interdependent value propositions are formulated), designing a governance system, while creating trust and reducing the perceived risk of P2P exchanges de Rivera et al, 2017;Einav et al, 2016;Kumar et al, 2018;Muzellec et al, 2015;Perren and Kozinets, 2018;Rochet and Tirole, 2006). Herbert and Collin-Lachaud (2017) also found that collaborative consumption is a repertoire of practices unified by a unique practice style dominated by activities linked to commercial exchange, but that these transactions are also associated with the alternative ideas of community, gift-giving, solidarity, and generosity.…”

“…When peer providers and consumers exchange privately owned goods and services through online platforms, it is a collaborative consumption practice de Rivera et al, 2017;Hamari et al, 2016;Herbert and Collin-Lachaud, 2017;Huber, 2017;Möhlmann, 2015;Parguel et al, 2017). Belk (2014bBelk ( , p. 1597 explained that "collaborative consumption is the subset of Bardhi and Eckhardt's (2012) notion of access-based consumption" as participants access assets at the same time, not successively, so it is also called "consumer-to-consumer provision of access-based services" (Wilhelms et al, 2017, p. 39).…”

“…Trust is an established driver of collaborative consumption (Möhlmann, 2015;Papaoikonomou and Valor, 2016). Platforms should design appropriate screening procedures for new members and implement virtual reputation systems (de Rivera et al, 2017;Einav et al, 2015). However, current firm practices using peer ratings as a control system (e.g., Uber deactivating peer providers below 4.7/5) inadequately reflect service quality (Kumar et al, 2018).…”

Exploring consumer attitudes to online collaborative consumption: A typology of collaborative consumer profiles

“…Another platform typology is proposed by de Rivera et al (), Gordo, Cassidy, and Apesteguía () and contains three kinds of collaborative platforms: networking oriented, transaction oriented, and community oriented. Networking‐oriented platforms are based on a very large network and their primary purpose is to connect users through a sophisticated architecture.…”

A Framework for Assessing Democratic Qualities in Collaborative Economy Platforms: Analysis of 10 Cases in Barcelona

“…In fact, the interface or platform design both conditions and predefines the social relations-related, for example, to interaction mechanisms, regulation, profile information, or promotion-among users [12,13].…”