Subtopic Deep Dive
Sustainability in Sharing Economy
Research Guide
What is Sustainability in Sharing Economy?
Sustainability in Sharing Economy examines environmental impacts of access-based consumption models, resource efficiency gains from shared usage, and potential rebound effects from increased platform adoption.
Studies focus on lifecycle analyses in sectors like mobility and housing to quantify ecological outcomes. Key works include Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012) on car sharing access with 1920 citations and Martin et al. (2010) showing carsharing reduces household vehicle holdings (458 citations). Over 10 papers from 2010-2020 address these dynamics across 2000+ total citations.
Why It Matters
Sharing platforms like carsharing cut vehicle ownership, lowering emissions and resource use as Martin et al. (2010) demonstrate through household surveys in North America. Frenken and Schor (2017) highlight rebound risks where efficiency gains spur more consumption, informing policy for net-positive sustainability. Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012) reveal access models challenge ownership norms, enabling urban resource savings amid platform growth.
Key Research Challenges
Quantifying Rebound Effects
Increased access from sharing can boost total usage, offsetting efficiency gains. Frenken and Schor (2017) note this in environmental transitions analysis. Empirical measurement remains inconsistent across platforms.
Lifecycle Impact Assessment
Full environmental footprints include platform operations and user travel. Martin et al. (2010) assess carsharing vehicle reductions but overlook digital infrastructure. Sector-specific LCAs are sparse.
Behavioral Sustainability Gaps
User values drive participation but may not align with eco-goals. Piscicelli et al. (2014) identify value roles in UK lending systems. Long-term behavior shifts post-adoption are understudied.
Essential Papers
Smart tourism: foundations and developments
Ulrike Gretzel, Μαριάννα Σιγάλα, Zheng Xiang et al. · 2015 · Electronic Markets · 2.0K citations
Abstract Smart tourism is a new buzzword applied to describe the increasing reliance of tourism destinations, their industries and their tourists on emerging forms of ICT that allow for massive amo...
Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing: Table 1.
Fleura Bardhi, Giana M. Eckhardt · 2012 · Journal of Consumer Research · 1.9K citations
Access-based consumption, defined as transactions that can be market mediated but where no transfer of ownership takes place, is becoming increasingly popular, yet it is not well theorized. This st...
Collaborative consumption: determinants of satisfaction and the likelihood of using a sharing economy option again
Mareike Möhlmann · 2015 · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · 1.3K citations
Abstract Collaborative consumption, often associated with the sharing economy, takes place in organized systems or networks, in which participants conduct sharing activities in the form of renting,...
Putting the sharing economy into perspective
Koen Frenken, Juliet B. Schor · 2017 · Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions · 1.0K citations
Algorithmic management and app‐work in the gig economy: A research agenda for employment relations and HRM
James Duggan, Ultan Sherman, Ronan Carbery et al. · 2019 · Human Resource Management Journal · 780 citations
Abstract Current understanding of what constitutes work in the growing gig economy is heavily conflated, ranging from conceptualisations of independent contracting to other forms of contingent labo...
Understanding platform business models: A mixed methods study of marketplaces
Karl Täuscher, Sven M. Laudien · 2017 · European Management Journal · 550 citations
A triadic framework for collaborative consumption (CC): Motives, activities and resources & capabilities of actors
Sabine Benoit, Thomas L. Baker, Ruth N. Bolton et al. · 2017 · Journal of Business Research · 525 citations
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Elsevier under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommon...
Reading Guide
Foundational Papers
Start with Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012) for access-based consumption theory (1920 citations), then Martin et al. (2010) for empirical carsharing impacts (458 citations), as they establish core mobility sustainability baselines.
Recent Advances
Study Frenken and Schor (2017, 1041 citations) for rebound perspectives and Möhlmann (2015, 1261 citations) for satisfaction drivers influencing sustained eco-use.
Core Methods
Household surveys (Martin et al., 2010); qualitative access contrasts (Bardhi and Eckhardt, 2012); value frameworks in collaborative systems (Piscicelli et al., 2014).
How PapersFlow Helps You Research Sustainability in Sharing Economy
Discover & Search
Research Agent uses searchPapers on 'sustainability carsharing rebound effects' to retrieve Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012), then citationGraph maps 1920 influencers like Martin et al. (2010), and findSimilarPapers uncovers Frenken and Schor (2017) for comprehensive coverage.
Analyze & Verify
Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to extract lifecycle data from Martin et al. (2010), verifies claims via verifyResponse (CoVe) against 458-citation impacts, and runPythonAnalysis with pandas regresses vehicle holdings on carsharing adoption for statistical checks; GRADE scores evidence strength on rebound quantification.
Synthesize & Write
Synthesis Agent detects gaps in rebound studies across Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012) and Frenken and Schor (2017), flags contradictions in efficiency claims; Writing Agent uses latexEditText for sustainability matrices, latexSyncCitations integrates 10+ papers, and latexCompile exports polished reports with exportMermaid for impact flowcharts.
Use Cases
"Analyze vehicle reduction stats from carsharing papers using Python."
Research Agent → searchPapers 'carsharing household vehicles' → Analysis Agent → readPaperContent on Martin et al. (2010) → runPythonAnalysis (pandas plot of holdings data) → matplotlib chart of 30% ownership drop.
"Draft LaTeX review on sustainability gaps in sharing economy."
Synthesis Agent → gap detection across Frenken and Schor (2017), Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012) → Writing Agent → latexEditText for intro → latexSyncCitations for 1920+ refs → latexCompile → PDF with rebound effect diagram.
"Find code for sharing economy simulation models."
Research Agent → paperExtractUrls from sustainability papers → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → Python script for resource efficiency modeling from carsharing datasets.
Automated Workflows
Deep Research workflow scans 50+ papers via searchPapers on 'sharing economy sustainability', chains citationGraph to Martin et al. (2010), and outputs structured report with GRADE-verified impacts. DeepScan applies 7-step analysis to Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012), checkpointing rebound claims with CoVe. Theorizer generates hypotheses on platform rebound from Frenken and Schor (2017) literature synthesis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What defines sustainability in sharing economy?
It covers environmental impacts of access-based models without ownership transfer, resource efficiencies, and usage rebounds (Bardhi and Eckhardt, 2012).
What methods assess sharing sustainability?
Household surveys track vehicle reductions (Martin et al., 2010); lifecycle analyses quantify footprints; value studies probe behaviors (Piscicelli et al., 2014).
What are key papers?
Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012, 1920 citations) on access consumption; Martin et al. (2010, 458 citations) on carsharing holdings; Frenken and Schor (2017, 1041 citations) on perspectives.
What open problems exist?
Rebound effect measurement across sectors; long-term behavioral shifts; platform operation emissions integration beyond user access.
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Part of the Sharing Economy and Platforms Research Guide