The Distinctive Domain of the Sharing Economy: Definitions, Value Creation, and Implications for Research

The objective of this special issue is to expand our understanding of the sharing economy. To this end, we consider how the sharing economy can be demarcated and provide a definition that distinguishes the sharing economy from other forms of economic organization and resource orchestration. Specifically, the sharing economy entails multisided platforms that facilitate user access to – rather than ownership of – assets that are rivalrous in their use, and that are not owned by said platforms. Using this definition, we identify and show how the sharing economy creates and distributes economic value among participants and we summarize the six articles in the special issue. All in all, this introduction and the six studies clarify how the sharing economy and its three main constituencies – sharing platforms, asset providers, and users – reduce commercial friction by increasing trust, facilitating interaction, easing resource access and orchestration, and maximizing ecosystem-wide value.