Does Sharing Make You Seem Caring? Social Perception of Sharing vs. Owning
Consumer research within the sharing economy context has so far mainly investigated drivers and barriers for adoption. This paper investigates another important factor for understanding consumer behavior in pro-environmental sharing contexts, namely how consumers using car-sharing services instead of traditional car ownership are perceived by others. Using a between-subjects design to study person perception effects, we conducted a high-powered experiment in a general population sample in Norway (N = 1,194), examining whether users of car-sharing services are perceived as more trustworthy than similar individuals who own their own car. The results supported this hypothesis, but only when the car-sharing motive was environmental. That is, participants seem to rely on car-sharing behavior as a cue for generalized trustworthiness, if the car-sharing behavior is assumed to reflect an underlying pro-environmental motive (as opposed to a less appealing financial motive). We found no main effect of consumer category (car-sharing vs. car-owning) on participants’ socialization intentions. However, a follow-up analysis found suggestive evidence of social homophily: Participants who drove less themselves and/or were highly environmentally engaged, displayed a relative preference for socializing with car-sharing users, whereas participants who drove frequently and/or were less environmentally engaged displayed a relative preference for socializing with car-owners. We found no moderation of treatment effects by left-right political orientation. Seen as a whole, the results suggest that environmentally-motivated car-sharing can operate as a generalized trust cue in person perception, but that preferences for who to spend social time with relies more on similarity with oneself than their environmental profile
Year of publication: |
[2023]
|
---|---|
Authors: | Berg Nødtvedt, Katrine ; Sjåstad, Hallgeir ; Thorbjørnsen, Helge |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource (30 p) |
---|---|
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments March 30, 2023 erstellt |
Other identifiers: | 10.2139/ssrn.4404836 [DOI] |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014358062
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Racial Bias in the Sharing Economy and the Role of Trust and Self-Congruence
Berg Nødtvedt, Katrine, (2020)
-
Skard, Siv E. Rosendahl, (2021)
-
Man up and take it : gender bias in moral typecasting
Reynolds, Tania, (2020)
- More ...