Why buy new when one can share? Exploring collaborative consumption motivations for consumer goods

Abstract

The notion of collaborative consumption or sharing economy—where consumers share access to ownership of properties such as cars, clothes and accommodations—has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. Development of communication technologies and peer‐to‐peer communities has enabled consumers to coordinate sharing activities through various online platforms. Collaborative consumption involves sharing of both intangible (e.g., music, space and car rides) and tangible assets (e.g., household items, clothes and furniture). Activities such as renting, swapping, trading and purchasing/selling used consumer goods are included in the latter. Despite increasing academic attention on collaborative consumption, little research has been pursued in the context of consumer goods. The nature of consumption for tangible goods can be entirely different from that of intangible goods because people can exercise greater control over tangible goods, which results in greater psychological ownership than that for intangible goods. To address this gap, the objective of this study is to develop a scale that examines consumer motivations for collaborative consumption of consumer goods. Following Churchill's paradigm of scale development, the procedures of scale item generation, purification and validation were conducted via in‐depth interviews, literature review and surveys. The study identified five underlying dimensions of collaborative consumption of consumer goods: concern‐for‐sustainability, social, variety‐seeking, fun and cost‐saving. Study findings and implications are discussed, and future research avenues are suggested.

Exploring the Motives for Online Fashion Renting: Insights from Social Retailing to Sustainability

“…The extant literature on collaborative consumption suggests that economic and environmental considerations are the two main factors prompting consumers to become involved in collaborative consumption [17]. Environmental awareness is a significant driver of consumers' willingness to purchase sustainable products [1,15,49]. Similarly, environmental awareness plays an important role in consumers' choices of environmentally friendly products [20].…”

“…Collaborative consumption is defined as economy sharing activities among consumers, or peer-to-peer commerce, that provides alternative venues for industries while lengthening the lifecycle of products [1,2]. Collaborative consumption offers a more environmentally friendly mode of consumption (e.g., renting, bartering, trading, lending, and swapping of goods), all of which involve the conservation of resources [3,4].…”

Consumer Motivations to Create Alternative Consumption Platforms

“…Socially responsible consumption can be based on consumer choices associated with lower ownership costs, sustainability and the need to consume in ways that are beneficial to the environment or broader community and are economically beneficial (Kim and Jin, 2019). Kim and Jin (2019) further identified five motivations for consumers who engage in collaborative consumption, namely concern for sustainability, social reasons to share and engage, cost-savings, variety seeking and fun. The ‘fun’ aspect may be explained by the value involved in sourcing a specific item that satisfies multiple motivations (Kim and Jin, 2019).…”

Intrinsic motivators of collaborative consumption: A study of accommodation rental services

“…CC provides new personal experiences and interactions to consumers. Kim and Jin (2020) revealed socializing, variety‐seeking and fun as consumer motivations for CC, which are closely associated with openness to experience. Previous research support this notion.…”