Is the sharing economy socially responsible? Case study examination about sharing economy companies with the help of stakeholder theory

Sharing economy is a relatively new method of supplying products and services to the market. This new model has great potential in the field of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and this paper examines the relationship between sharing economy and CSR. The author argues that the companies, whose business models are based on the sharing concept, take responsibility for people who use their product and services. Based on the literature, three basic sharing economy entrepreneur groups have been found; redistributing markets, product service systems and collaborative lifestyles. For the purposes of this paper, multinational companies concerned are eBay (redistributing markets), UBER (product service systems), and Airbnb (collaborative lifestyles), with each being analysed with the help of the stakeholder outline model. In this study, some identified stakeholder groups differ from the classic CSR stakeholder theory as their power, contributions, and expectations are more significant than in the case of traditional business.