Understanding the intention to buy secondhand clothing on sharing economy platforms: The influence of sustainability, distance from the consumption system, and economic motivations

Abstract

Sharing economy (SE) platforms are increasingly providing an effective means of connecting providers and users of secondhand goods. While media seem to emphasize that the trend of selling/buying secondhand has been growing due to the consolidation and development of peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing platforms, a comprehensive identification of the antecedents of buying secondhand on SE platforms is virtually missing. This study addresses this gap by (a) identifying different sets of motivations and attitudes leading consumers to adopt SE platforms for secondhand buying and (b) testing a model on a sample of UK consumers in the context of P2P sharing platforms for secondhand clothing. This study reveals that there are three major antecedents of consumers' attitude towards buying secondhand clothes on P2P-SE platforms: perceived sustainability, economic motivations, and taking a distance from the consumption system. Perceived sustainability and economic motivations influence positively attitude toward buying secondhand, as well as motivations in the form of distance from the consumption system. Attitude toward buying secondhand is positively influenced also by distance from the system and, in turn, has a strong positive influence on behavioral intention to buy secondhand clothes. Moreover, past experience of buying secondhand online has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived sustainability and distance from the consumption system.

The role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in sharing economy post-adoption

“…Enjoyment is defined as the degree to which the activity of using a specific system is perceived to be pleasing and entertaining, regardless of any performance consequences resulting from system use (adapted from Venkatesh, 2000). Individuals using SE services available on an SE platform are not drawn to a website or app by potential economic or financial benefits only (Ek Styvén and Mariani, 2020;Shmidt, 2020;Xu and Schrier, 2019). Individuals using SE services mediated by digital platforms seek multi-sensory and emotional aspects while using a sharing service (Hwang and Griffiths, 2017), namely fun, enjoyment, and fantasy (Liu et al, 2020).…”

Web 2.0 and Destination Marketing: Current Trends and Future Directions

“…Future research should certainly look at the "what" from multiple perspectives and adopt a multi-and inter-disciplinary approach, blending marketing, computer science and information systems approaches. This might allow to illustrate more comprehensively the role of different information and communication technologies, digital platforms and devices in connecting stakeholders within and outside the destinations [82][83][84]. Third, even those studies trying to address the "why" often examine in a compartmentalized manner either a few of the drivers of users' engagement with DMOs' social networking sites (SNSs) [42] or simply measure users' engagement based on user generated content (UGC), descriptive statistics [75] or descriptive analytics [21].…”

A Systematic Literature Review. Relationships between the Sharing Economy, Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals

“…In connection with the user of the platform the effects are different; for car owners, sustainability is a key factor in offering their car, however, for passengers it is irrelevant [30]. Regarding the second hand market, besides sustainability and economic benefits, another motivation for the use of the platform is distancing from the consumer system and the value of brands [31].…”