Why do Belgian millennials participate in the sharing economy?

Abstract

The sharing economy consists of peer-to-peer business models, using technological platforms (Rubicon, 2015) and algorithms to match potential users with providers (Allen, 2015) via the internet, where they can either for free or for a fee (Bonciu, 2016) rent, lend and share goods or services (Albinsson & Yasanthi Perera, 2012). Although the sharing economy is growing very fast, still there is little known about people's motivations to participate in it (Böcker & Meelen, 2016). Understanding these motivations may be helpful in adopting new business models to create a new source of revenue. It is already clear that a lot of businesses that are part of the sharing economy copy services provided by businesses that are not part of the sharing economy (Matzler, Veider, & Kathan, 2015).

Although little is known about motivations to participate in the sharing economy, there has been some research conducted to investigate it (Hamari, Sjöklint, & Ukkonen, 2016). However, it has not been specifically examined why people in Belgium want to participate in the sharing economy. To find this out, this study will focus on people within Belgium only. Since millennials have grown up using technology, making online purchases - and most sharing economy platforms are online platforms, and since millennials are one of the biggest generation groups (Taken Smith, 2012), this study will only focus on this generation, which is why this master's thesis investigates why Belgian millennials participate in the sharing economy.