“I like it, but I don't use it”: Impact of carsharing business models on usage intentions in the sharing economy

Abstract

Carsharing is often promoted as a potentially environmental‐friendly alternative to individual car ownership. However, various carsharing programs have displayed limited success in the past. An initial field study of a new carsharing service is such a story of failure: The introduction of this new service at a medium‐sized German university generated unexpectedly low adoption rates so that the service was eventually scaled down and then suspended. Quantitative field study results as well as additional qualitative focus groups reveal that missing compatibility is a key barrier to adoption. Drawing on extant conceptual frameworks of user participation in sharing business models, a factorial survey identifies the importance of different dimensions of carsharing business models for their acceptance. The results reveal that a set of convenience and lifestyle dimensions influences usage intentions, including mode of drive, pickup and drop‐off mode, service level, price model, availability, and type of market mediation. In contrast, vehicle fleet does not appear to influence carsharing models' acceptance. These findings contribute to research on business model configuration as well as the attitude–behavior gap in the sharing economy by determining relevant dimensions of a carsharing business model that can bridge the gap between basically positive attitudes and usage resistance. Thereby, they also serve for concrete managerial recommendations.

Carsharing: a systematic literature review and research agenda

“…Based on the work of Hahn et al (2020) and Wilhelms et al (2017b), Table 3 outlines the main characteristics of each business model. There are several differences between carsharing business models beyond value proposition, resources and revenue mechanism.…”

“…Pricing is one of the most important factors, as it plays a role in determining the customer type and level of usage (Balac et al , 2017). Various strategies have been devised to make carsharing profitable, including dynamic pricing schemes based on availability and time (Giorgione et al , 2020); for a company targeting a younger clientele, for example, the ideal pricing model combines usage-based and monthly fees (Hahn et al , 2020). In the early phase of P2P carsharing, there were several experiments in the absence of an established pricing model; for instance, some operators allowed car owners to specify their own rental prices while others allowed the platform provider to set the price (Barbour et al , 2020).…”

Organizational characteristics explaining participation in sustainable business models in the sharing economy: Evidence from the fashion industry using conjoint analysis

“…Our study has limitations. Although ACBC study results are generally good predictors of real‐world behavior, we study intentions of CSP participation, not actual behavior (Hahn et al, 2020). Future research should study this in a real usage context.…”

“…Furthermore, we perform our research in the fashion industry; the attractiveness of organizational characteristics of sharing platforms may differ in other industries. For instance, this might be the case when more expensive goods, like cars, are shared (Hahn et al, 2020). Despite these limitations, this study contributes to both academics and professionals by shedding light on the understudied attractiveness of organizational characteristics of sharing platforms, particularly focusing on the characteristics of idealistic CSPs.…”

“…These innovations take many forms, potentially emerging throughout the entire value chain of organizations (Lozano, 2018). Several authors point to initiatives in the sharing economy as a promising new SBM (Hahn, Ostertag, Lehr, Büttgen, & Benoit, 2020; Piscicelli, Ludden, & Cooper, 2018). In the sharing economy, people share, instead of owning, underutilized goods.…”