Is sharing caring? Exploring the perceived social and economic sustainability of sharing economy in emerging markets
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2018
Department
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Mcode
Degree programme
Creative Sustainability
Language
en
Pages
67+4
Series
Abstract
Sharing economy is a significant socio-economic phenomenon of this century and mobility sharing is one of the most controversial, heavily-debated topic within the domain. Although there are more and more researches done in the field, but limited knowledge is achieved on social and economic sustainability of sharing economy in emerging markets. Motivated by the research gap, this thesis explores the perceived social and economic sustainability of sharing economy within the case of mobility sharing platform in a rapidly developing country, Vietnam. The focus of the study is on examining the social and economic impacts of ridesharing platforms on independent providers, namely the platform drivers in this case. The research is facilitated with interview as the research tool. Platform drivers, drivers from conventional businesses and platform representative make up the interview sample. The findings indicate ridesharing platform changes the drivers’ livelihood both positively and negatively. The economic effects include direct economic gains, increased efficiency, improved trust and safety, creation of dependent self-employment and risky financial decision. Meanwhile, the social consequences comprise of social inclusion, lack of long-term security, hostility from conventional businesses, work-life off balance and concern over threat of monopoly. The results demonstrate the social and economic transformations triggered by sharing economy especially in transportation sector. The study contributes to the ongoing wider discussion about sustainability of sharing economy in general and ridesharing specifically. It also has important managerial implications for ridesharing firms regarding their strategies to retain and attract drivers.Description
Thesis advisor
Juntunen, JouniKeywords
sharing economy, ridesharing platform, economic sustainability, social sustainability, emerging markets