The role of privacy concerns in the sharing economy

TLDR

Internet‑mediated sharing is rapidly expanding, with millions of users exchanging personal services and possessions worldwide, yet research on privacy in this sector remains scarce. The study aims to investigate the privacy threats inherent in Internet‑mediated sharing. The authors develop and test a framework that examines how privacy concerns influence sharing behavior, incorporating institutional and social threats, trust, hedonic motives, and monetary incentives.

Abstract

Internet-mediated sharing is growing quickly. Millions of users around the world share personal services and possessions with others ‒ often complete strangers. Shared goods can amount to substantial financial and immaterial value. Despite this, little research has investigated privacy in the sharing economy. To fill this gap, we examine the sharing–privacy nexus by exploring the privacy threats associated with Internet-mediated sharing. Given the popularity of sharing services, users seem quite willing to share goods and services despite the compounded informational and physical privacy threats associated with such sharing. We develop and test a framework for analyzing the effect of privacy concerns on sharing that considers institutional and social privacy threats, trust and social-hedonic as well as monetary motives.