The role of values in collaborative consumption: insights from a product-service system for lending and borrowing in the UK

Abstract

a b s t r a c tCollaborative consumption is an emerging socio-economic model based on sharing, renting, gifting, bartering, swapping, lending and borrowing. Made possible through community interaction and, increasingly, use of network technologies, these alternative and more sustainable ways of consuming have attracted growing attention for their potential to prevent new purchases, intensify the use of idle assets and promote reuse of possessions that are no longer wanted. Nonetheless, the uptake of ProductService Systems (PSSs) that enable collaborative consumption is still very limited. This paper investigates how consumers' values can influence the acceptance, adoption and diffusion of collaborative consumption. It reviews two theoretical frameworks used to understand pro-environmental behaviour, social psychological models of behaviour and social practice theory. Coming from contrasting disciplinary perspectives, these approaches conceptualise values differently. The paper evaluates the possibility of resolving these differences through a mixed methods study. It examines values empirically through a case study of Ecomodo, a UK-based online marketplace where people can lend and borrow each other's objects, spaces and skills, and present the results of a quantitative study which identified and measured value priorities among Ecomodo users through Schwartz's Portrait Value Questionnaire. It concludes with a discussion of the role of values in relation to the introduction and scaling up of PSSs that enable collaborative consumption.

Diversifying and de-growing the circular economy: Radical social transformation in a resource-scarce world

“…Despite research that shows the challenges and limits of sustainable product service systems (e.g. see Piscicelli et al, 2015), the role of the citizen thus appears to be fundamentally one of accepting or rejecting new and diverse business models, in line with re-jigged product and service life cycles.…”

Circular economy and Cradle to Cradle in educational practice

“…Without mutual cooperation between governments, producers and consumers, the contemporary focus on consumer responsibility and choice is not likely to 'result in significant long-term change' (Isenhour 2010, p. 466). The opportunity lies in new financial opportunities created by the PSS -development of functional service economy that leases products to the customers, as well as monitors and repairs them (Mont 2002;Piscicelli et al 2015). Within educational practice this implies the need for greater reflection on strategic ways of addressing sources of power and decision-making in making circular frameworks more viable.…”

“…The so-called Product-Service System (PSS) requires producer to retain ownership and lease products to the customers (Mont 2002). Sharing or collaborative economy is complimentary to PSS (Piscicelli et al 2015), based on the peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of products that are infrequently used for services that are only occasionally needed (e.g. drills for making holes) facilitated by digital sharing platforms (Piscicelli et al 2018).…”

A Proposal for a Typology of Sharing Economy

“…In this scenario, collaborative consumption emerges, becoming a large-scale phenomenon that already involves millions of users and presents itself as a profitable investment option for several companies. Collaborative consumption has grown in such a way that sharing has been described as a transformer of individual and local behavior, leading a movement capable of modifying traditional business models (Piscicelli, Cooper, & Fisher, 2015). The rapid growth of this phenomenon comes largely by the explosion of platforms such as Uber and Airbnb, almost treated as the phenomenon itself.…”