‘Do I share because I care?’: Investigating the factors influencing consumer's adoption of shared consumption

Abstract

The preference structure of consumers remains a perplexing issue for sharing platforms. This study aims to broaden the understanding of shared consumption (SC) adoption. It employed the theory of interpersonal behaviour (TIB) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to propose a conceptual model integrating cognitive, affective and normative beliefs to explain sharing intention. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire to gather responses. Using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM), the assessment of 298 valid responses revealed that economic incentives, normative beliefs, environmental concerns and perceived moral norms are significant predictors of sharing intention. The results of this study offer insights into the fact that consumers are cognizant of the sustainability concern and are ready to amend their consumption patterns driven by moral norms. Additionally, non‐cognitive factors like freedom from ownership hassles and availability uncertainty influence sharing intention. The study's theoretical contributions include extending the application of TIB to shared consumption behaviour and integrating non‐cognitive factors with TPB factors to understand shared consumption intention better. Accordingly, the study offers guidance to marketers for promoting shared consumption.