Digital inequalities in the sharing economy: A qualitative text analysis from focus groups

The sharing economy has transformed access to services through digital platforms and the way people consume them. However, participation remains uneven owing to persistent digital inequalities. This study examines how digital skills and access conditions shape individuals’ participation, with particular emphasis on how users perceive and experience these inequalities. A qualitative approach was adopted, based on two focus groups involving 14 participants aged 25–64, conducted in Madrid, Spain, in July 2024. The analysis followed the Gioia methodology and was complemented by exploratory Natural Language Processing techniques to identify recurring terms and named entities in the transcripts. The findings reveal five interrelated dimensions shaping user engagement with platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, and Booking: usability, technology, skills, trust, and other usage limitations. These dimensions show how limited digital skills, usability challenges, access conditions, security concerns, and additional socioeconomic constraints can restrict participation, particularly among users with fewer digital resources or lower levels of digital competence. The study contributes an empirically grounded, user-centered framework for understanding how multiple digital barriers accumulate and shape unequal participation in the sharing economy. It also connects digital inequality research with platform participation by showing that exclusion results not only from limited Internet access or skills, but also from platform design, trust, accessibility, and payment conditions. These findings provide actionable insights for researchers, platform designers, policymakers, and educators seeking to promote more inclusive sharing economy platforms.