In previous research, several motives were identified to describe why a consumer would take part in collaborative consumption. These findings have now been tested quantitatively in Amsterdam on 1330 citizens that are not yet taking part in collaborative consumption.
Recent findings from the US (N>2000) indicate that this group is most likely attracted to collaborative consumption by financial rewards. However, the Amsterdam results indicate that social aspects such as helping others and meeting people are equally important. Other motives include contributing to a healthy environment and recommendation. Saving time was considered an important motive for using Shareyourmeal. Furthermore, respondents social attitude towards the neighbourhood, and general social attitude had a positive correlation with the willingness to take part in collaborative consumption. The same was the case for environmental awareness. No difference was found between intrinsic motives (social and environmental) and extrinsic motives (financial and social>receiving praise). Rather, the high willingness to take part in collaborative consumption is due to the variety of motives respondents have for taking part. These results are different from earlier research by Hamari and Ukkonen (N=168), who found that extrinsic motives are considered the main factor for starting to take part in collaborative consumption. Last, recommendation and experience with online markets such as eBay or offline markets, such as second-hand stores or flea markets, influenced respondent’s willingness to take part in collaborative consumption. Interestingly, already taking part in collaborative consumption (N=54) did not have an influence. Similar results were found for the degree to which respondents are following mainstream and social media.
Aside from motives, awareness is also an obstacle in Amsterdam. In this research, more than 90 percent of the respondents did not know of existing collaborative consumption platforms in Amsterdam (with the exception of Shareyourmeal, with 75 percent awareness).
Based on this research, it is worthwhile to promote a variety of benefits of your platform, as people’s motives often differ. Reach out to new demographic groups and find out how to connect (with and without social media). Be aware that you are part of a transition and carry the message of the entire collaborative consumption space. This will help push forward the industry and thus the growth of your platform.
The complete thesis is available in the resources section of this website and on slideshare.
This research project is a collaboration between shareNL, Collaborative Lab, the Department for Research and Statistics of Amsterdam (O+S) and Utrecht University.
