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Exploring Different Types of Sharing: A Proposed Segmentation of the Market for “Sharing” Businesses
Author(s) -
Hellwig Katharina,
Morhart Felicitas,
Girardin Florent,
Hauser Mirjam
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20825
Subject(s) - german , sample (material) , market segmentation , marketing , business , relevance (law) , set (abstract data type) , cluster (spacecraft) , sharing economy , computer science , political science , geography , world wide web , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , law , programming language
Sharing instead of buying is regaining traction among today's consumers. This study aims at identifying segments of sharing consumers to unearth potentially viable clusters of a consumer behavior that is a market of growing economic relevance. By means of a qualitative study and a survey with a roughly representative sample of 1121 Swiss‐German and German consumers, a set of trait‐related, motivational, and perceived socioeconomic variables is identified that can be used to group individuals into segments that differ with regard to their approach to sharing. A cluster analysis based on these variables suggests four potential clusters of sharing consumers—sharing idealists, sharing opponents, sharing pragmatists, and sharing normatives. Two sets of testable propositions are derived that can guide further research in this domain and pave the way to a more targeted approach to the growing market of “sharing” businesses.