Understanding Collaborative Consumption

Introduction

Book to be edited by Pia A. Albinsson, B. Yasanthi Perera, and Stephanie J. Lawson; Abstract deadline now 30 Sep 2022

POSTING TYPE: Revisits

Author: Pia Albinsson

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to contribute a chapter to an edited book titled “Understanding Collaborative Consumption,” that will be published by Edward Elgar in late 2023/ early 2024 (Cheltenham, UK). This book will be a part of Edward Elgar’s new “Understanding of…” series.

  • Abstract: due September 30, 2022 (500 – 600 words)
  • First draft: due January 30, 2023
  • Final chapter draft: due August 1, 2023 (5,000-8000 words. A figure/table is equivalent to 500 words)

Background

In recent years, with the rise of the sharing economy, collaborative consumption (CC) has attracted significant attention from scholars and practitioners. CC is broadly defined as “the set of resource circulation systems which enable consumers to both obtain, and provide, temporarily or permanently, valuable resources or services through direct interaction with other consumers or through the mediation of a third-party” (Ertz, Durif, & Arcan, 2016, p. 15). Situated within the sharing economy (SE), CC often entails sharing or so-called pseudo-sharing of resources (Belk 2007, 2010, 2014). While peer providers might share their resources with others directly, these interactions are typically coordinated through online platforms, smaller start-ups, or community efforts. Thus, grassroots and community initiatives including community clothing exchanges, Really, Really Free Markets, clothing, and toy libraries, and time banks (e.g., Albinsson & Perera 2009, 2012, 2018; Ozanne & Ballantine, 2010; Laamanen, Whalen, & Campana, 2015; Valor & Papaoikonomou, 2019) to large organizational efforts by Zipcar (Bardhi & Eckhardt 2012), Mercedes, Volvo, and Marriott to name a few, entail CC.

As a part of the Understanding of…series, this book will feature empirical and theoretical works that allow the reader to gain a deeper understanding of CC and stimulate additional research on this vibrant topic. At a broad level, the volume will examine the development of modern CC markets, the opportunities and challenges facing various CC platforms/ organizations, the positive and negative externalities engendered by CC organizations’ business practices and discuss current trends and possibilities for future developments (see Albinsson, Perera, & Griffiths, 2021; Buhalis, Andreu, & Gnoth 2020; Griffiths, Perera & Albinsson 2018; 2022; Lawson, Gleim, Perren, & Hwang 2016). As CC falls within the domain of the sharing economy (SE), the book will also critically examine its evolution to discuss how a phenomenon that began at the grassroots level to better utilize resources has expanded to include profit-driven, business as usual operations that impose burdens (negative externalities) on the community.

Topics of Interest

We seek conceptual and empirical works within, but not limited to, the following broad topics. While meaningful quantitative studies are welcome, we aim to limit “big data” work and prioritize those based on qualitative research methods that allow for a deep understanding of CC.

Part 1: Evolution of CC – Overview of the CC concept, and its evolution over time.

Evolution of CC

  1. Overview of how CC offerings have shifted over time
  2. Societal trends that facilitate CC adoption (e.g., shift away from ownership as a measure of wealth and status).
  3. Effect of CC on marketing and consumer research theory, politics, and regulations

Part 2: Branding, platforms, and Innovations in CC

  1. Consumer decision making regarding CC offerings
  2. Branding (e.g., platform brand versus individual product/service brands) implications
  3. Digital platforms and Trust-building
    1. Innovations, currency, payment systems -seamless exchanges

Part 3: Impact of CC on stakeholders, and society.

  1. Consumers:
    1. Social implications such as addressing – paradoxical aspects of CC (e.g., connected but yet alone; freedom to choose but having too many options, data privacy concerns that stem from sharing).
    2. Positive aspects such as increased access to resources, and financial wellbeing.
    3. Marginalization, inclusiveness/ exclusiveness (e.g., issues on Airbnb).
  2. Providers:
    1. Fostering provider wellbeing through work opportunities, providing a means to express agency
    2. Fostering a shift in work identity
    3. Negative impacts on providers in the absence of employee protections and benefits, overwork.
  3. Communities/ marketplace:
    1. Negative externalities of CC platforms (e.g., corporatized Airbnb offerings affecting community housing supply, neighborhood impacts of guests)
    2. How lack of regulations governing CC offerings affect communities
    3. Effect of CC enterprises on industry incumbents
  4. Regulators:
    1. Regulatory burdens associated with CC offerings.

Part 4: Emerging trends and the future of CC

  1. Emerging trends in CC

Tentative timeline:

  • Chapter proposal due (500-to-600-word abstract): September 30, 2022
  • Notification decision on proposal: October 1, 2022
  • Full chapter due (first draft): January 30, 2023.
  • Peer/ editor reviews due: March 1st, 2023
  • Final chapter due: August 1, 2023
  • Final proof sent to authors – TBA
  • Book published: late 2023 or early 2024 (to be finalized by publisher).

In case of questions to see if a chapter is already accounted for or to submit proposal/ chapter, please contact the editors:

References:

Albinsson, P. A., B. Y. Perera, and M. A. Griffiths (2021), “Overcoming Scarcity through Efficient Consumption: Innovative Sharing Initiatives,” in A Modern Guide to the Urban Sharing Economy,” (Thomas Sigler and Jonathan Corcoran, eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing, 55-70, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789909562.00011

Albinsson, P. A. and B. Y. Perera (2009), “From Trash to Treasure and Beyond: The Meaning of Voluntary Disposition,” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 8 (6), 340-353. (Special issue on Unpacking Disposal DOI: 10.1002/cb.301)

Albinsson, P. A. and B. Y. Perera, (2012), “Alternative Marketplaces in the 21st Century: Building Community through Sharing Events,” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 11 (4), 303-315. DOI: 10.1002/cb.1389)

Albinsson, P. A. and B. Y. Perera, (2018), “Access-based consumption: From ownership to non-ownership of clothing,” in The Rise of the Sharing Economy:  Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Collaborative Consumption. (Pia A. Albinsson and B. Yasanthi Perera, eds.) Praeger: Santa Barbara, CA. ISBN: 978-1-4408-5186-5, pp. 183-212.

Bardhi, F., and Eckhardt, G. M. (2012). Access-based consumption: The case of car sharing. Journal of consumer research, 39(4), 881-898.

Belk, R. (2007). Why not share rather than own? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 611(1), 126-140.

Belk, R. (2010). Sharing. Journal of consumer research, 36(5), 715-734.

Belk, R. (2014). Sharing versus pseudo-sharing in Web 2.0. The anthropologist, 18(1), 7-23.

Buhalis, D., Andreu, L., and Gnoth, J. (2020). The dark side of the sharing economy: balancing value co‐creation and value co‐destruction. Psychology & Marketing, 37(5), 689-704.

Ertz, M., Durif, F., and Arcand, M. (2016). Collaborative consumption: Conceptual snapshot at a buzzword. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 19(2), 1-23.

Griffiths, M.,  B. Y. Perera and P. A. Albinsson, (2018) “Contrived Surplus and Negative Externalities in the Sharing Economy,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 27 (4), 445-463

Griffiths, M. A., B. Y. Perera, and P. A. Albinsson (2022), “Lives of the Lonely: How Collaborative Consumption Services Can Alleviate Social Isolation,” Frontiers in Psychology, 13:826533. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.826533

Laamanen, M., S. Wahlen, and M. Campana (2015), “Mobilising collaborative consumption lifestyles: A comparative frame analysis of time banking.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 39, no. 5 (2015): 459-467.

Lawson, S. J., Gleim, M. R., Perren, R., and Hwang, J. (2016). Freedom from ownership: An exploration of access-based consumption. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), 2615-2623.

Ozanne, L. K., and P. W. Ballantine (2010), “Sharing as a form of anti‐consumption? An examination of toy library users.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour 9, no. 6 (2010): 485-498.

Valor, C. and E. Papaoikonomou (2011), “Sharing Economy to the rescue? The case of timebanking,” in the Handbook of the Sharing Economy (Russ Belk, Giana Eckhardt, & Fleura Bardhi, eds.) Chetham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 136–151