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Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability

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  • Maria J. Pouri

    (Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Lorenz M. Hilty

    (Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
    Technology and Society Lab, Empa Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland)

Abstract

Human society is increasingly influencing the planet and its environmental systems. The existing environmental problems indicate that current production and consumption patterns are not sustainable. Despite the remarkable opportunities brought about by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve the resource efficiency of production and consumption processes, it seems that the overall trend is still not heading towards sustainability. By promoting the utilization of available and underused resources, the ICT-enabled sharing economy has transformed, and even in some cases disrupted, the prevailing patterns of production and consumption, raising questions about opportunities and risks of shared consumption modes for sustainability. The present article attempts to conceptualize the sustainability implications of today’s sharing economy. We begin with presenting a definition for the digital sharing economy that embraces the common features of its various forms. Based on our proposed definition, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the digital sharing economy as a use case of ICT. The analysis is deepened by applying the life-cycle/enabling/structural impacts model of ICT effects to this use case. As a result, we show the various positive and negative potentials of digital sharing for sustainability at different system levels. While it is too early to project well-founded scenarios to describe the sustainability status of digital sharing, the implications discussed in our work may help outlining future research and policies in this area.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria J. Pouri & Lorenz M. Hilty, 2018. "Conceptualizing the Digital Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4453-:d:185987
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    12. Chaohong Na & Xue Chen & Xiaojun Li & Yuting Li & Xiaolan Wang, 2022. "Digital Transformation of Value Chains and CSR Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-24, August.
    13. Olivera Kostoska & Ljupco Kocarev, 2019. "A Novel ICT Framework for Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-31, April.
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    15. Viktoriia Koilo, 2019. "Evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Unleashing the Opportunity of Industry 4.0 in Emerging Economies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Dan Wang & Liang Yan & Fangli Ruan & Xiaohuang Zeng, 2022. "An Abductive Analysis of Debates on the Impact of the Sharing Economy: A Systematic Review in a Sustainable Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-28, March.
    17. Rim Krouk & Fernando Almeida, 2021. "Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 in the Sustainability of Airbnb Business Model," Papers 2101.00281, arXiv.org.
    18. Svetlana Revinova & Svetlana Ratner & Inna Lazanyuk & Konstantin Gomonov, 2020. "Sharing Economy in Russia: Current Status, Barriers, Prospects and Role of Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-23, June.
    19. Dongshu Jiang & ZhiXing Ni & Yuxiu Chen & Xue Chen & Chaohong Na, 2022. "Influence of Financial Shared Services on the Corporate Debt Cost under Digitalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Gianluca Elia & Alessandro Margherita & Claudio Petti, 2020. "Building responses to sustainable development challenges: A multistakeholder collaboration framework and application to climate change," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2465-2478, September.
    21. Andreas Reuschl & Victor Tiberius & Matthias Filser & Yixin Qiu, 2022. "Value configurations in sharing economy business models," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 89-112, January.
    22. Michael Martin & David Lazarevic & Charlie Gullström, 2019. "Assessing the Environmental Potential of Collaborative Consumption: Peer-to-Peer Product Sharing in Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.
    23. Min Shang & Ji Luo, 2021. "The Tapio Decoupling Principle and Key Strategies for Changing Factors of Chinese Urban Carbon Footprint Based on Cloud Computing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, February.

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