No Money? No Problem! The Value of Sustainability: Social Capital Drives the Relationship among Customer Identification and Citizenship Behavior in Sharing Economy

Abstract

Abstract:This work provides a novel approach to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept and to CSR activities, using social capital as the driver of consumer citizenship behavior in the sharing economy business system. An online consumer questionnaire was carried out in Taiwan to examine seven proposed hypotheses to investigate the factors affecting behavior intention. The sample includes 445 participants and investigated their consumer citizenship behavior in response to companies' participation in CSR activities and sharing of economic opportunities, in this case, Airbnb Inc. This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. The result explores a new form of entrepreneurship marketing strategy and indicates that CSR has a positive effect on consumer-company (C-C) identification and the perceived value of sustainability. This study also establishes that social capital is the key mediator of the relationship between C-C identification and the perceived value of sustainability in consumer citizenship behavior. This research contributes to the idea that marketers should build well-designed CSR activities and deliver the perceived value of sustainability and consumer identification through social capital accumulation, which has proven to positively increase consumer citizenship behavior in the sharing economy environment. Consequently, the authors can suggest that entrepreneurs/executives should understand that CSR affects the perception of sustainability, consumer-company identification and improve consumer citizenship behavior. Most importantly, CSR activities focusing on sustainability issues and operating with social capital may lower costs and improve efficiencies as well. This finding could be viewed as a pioneering benchmark for further research.

Conceptualizing the Sharing Economy through Presenting a Comprehensive Framework

“…Some scholars believe that in terms of SE, a rebound effect happens when the price of the product or service goes down as a result of sharing, and therefore, there is a rise in use or consumption of products and services [22,128]. In fact, although it is expected that the changes in consumption patterns in the SE [129] lead to less demand for production, what happens in reality can be very different, showing more demand, which leads to more negative environmental impacts. Therefore, the SE does not necessarily result in lower consumption, and there is no proof for the claim of minimization of consumption in such models [127].…”

Impacts of Leadership on Project-Based Organizational Innovation Performance: The Mediator of Knowledge Sharing and Moderator of Social Capital

“…Social capital is associated with the extent to which people share information, and are concerned with the resources embedded in the relationship network [50]. Further, it is possible to obtain the necessary resources for new technology adoption and technology improvement [51].…”

Sustainable Entrepreneurship Orientation: A Reflection on Status-Quo Research on Factors Facilitating Responsible Managerial Practices

“…This makes the perceived value of sustainability, as it regards CSR issues, a potentially key factor in the willingness of people to consume more consciously. An increase in perceived value is an important factor companies consider when making the decision to act more sustainably [123]. In their paper, Wang and Ho introduce the idea that true sustainability solutions are to be found within the emerging domain of the sharing economy, where access to rather than owning an asset contributes and becomes the key to economic growth, scale advantages, and profits [123].…”

“…An increase in perceived value is an important factor companies consider when making the decision to act more sustainably [123]. In their paper, Wang and Ho introduce the idea that true sustainability solutions are to be found within the emerging domain of the sharing economy, where access to rather than owning an asset contributes and becomes the key to economic growth, scale advantages, and profits [123]. The authors base this idea on Brahme, who concludes in his article that the true solution to sustainability is actually not found within CSR and its practitioners [124].…”