Participation in the sharing economy :|the role of national culture

Abstract

Sharing economy, a disruptive way of doing business, is providing which is ours to other people for their use. Technological developments especially on internet technologies let a convenient space to rising of sharing economy, thus it has become very popular in the last decade. Companies like Uber and Airbnb created a new and disruptive business model in their areas, respectively ride sharing and house sharing. This research focuses on accommodation and ride sharing parts of sharing economy. We examined the possible relation of national cultural values with participation in the sharing economy. On a national scale Hofstede's data for national culture values and Statista’s eTravel Market Report data for sharing economy participation for nations were used. Along with cultural characteristics, the possible effect of country specific variables on participation in sharing economy was also examined. Multiple definitions for participation in sharing economy were used. Results of the study show that different variables have significant effect on ride sharing and house sharing. The significant variables showed discrepancy depending on the different definitions for participation in ride sharing and house sharing.