Perceived value in the sharing economy : A qualitative analysis of value drivers in peer-to-peer sharing offerings

Abstract

The present thesis examines customer value perceptions of peer-to-peer sharing services with respect to accommodation and mobility sharing services through qualitative inter-views. An in-depth literature review of 23 out of 398 articles reveals that there is no com-prehensive work that explains the phenomenon of customer's perceived value in P2P shar-ing services. Within a grounded theory perspective, 16 qualitative interviews are analysed and zero-, first-, and second-order categories are derived from the data. Consequently, the relevant service attributes, value dimensions and moderating factors for accommodation and mobility peer-to-peer sharing services are identified. The major perceived value di-mensions are labelled functional, economic, emotional, epistemic, social interaction, and sustainability value. The findings indicate that the major actors for customers’ value per-ceptions in P2P sharing services are the peer service provider as well as the platform, whereas third parties only play a minor role. Further, the findings provide insights that the largest extent of value is perceived in the service encounter phase of a customer, but also in the pre-purchase phase and post-encounter phase the customer perceives value. With respect to COVID-19 it can be concluded that the pandemic is likely to influences the customer’s perceived relevance of service attributes, like hygiene and cleanliness, and changes therefore the relevance of the perceived value dimensions, too. The findings pro-vide several theoretical implications as additional value dimensions (epistemic, social in-teraction and sustainability value) are identified which were not applied in established perceived value scales. The identified value dimensions may serve as a starting point for the conceptualization of a perceived value construct for peer-to-peer sharing services. Also managers of peer-to-peer sharing platforms but also managers of traditional, profes-sional service companies or B2C sharing platforms may use the findings to adapt their own value propositions, service processes and marketing communications to better ad-dress their customers’ value perceptions.