The Attitude of Generation Z towards the Sharing Economy : A comparative study on Indian and Swedish generation Z

Abstract: As a result of technological growth, there is a change in lifestyle which increases thedemands and expectations of consumers, especially in younger generations. Thisdemand forces the companies to update their business models to fulfil customerneeds, which results in the development of mobile applications and websites thatprovide convenience and flexibility to the users. This development gives rise to thesharing economy; it is the combination of old sharing practices with the newtechnological advancement through online. This sharing system hugely affects theconsumer behaviour, and this consumer behaviour is noted in the younger generation,especially in generation Z as they are the generation with the primary consumermarket in the upcoming decades, who are born and brought up in the internet world.Finding the attitude towards sharing economy is considered between the Indian andthe Swedish generation Z. Therefore, in order to understand more about this concept,a qualitative study is performed with the Indian and Swedish gen Z sharing economyconsumers. Our study includes ten interviews, five on both sides. An integrated modelwas developed from existing theories, which was adapted to analyze and comparethe findings of this study. This framework is regarded as the bedrock for this research,and themes were segmented from the transcribed interviews through the thematicanalysis. The finding of this study indicates that the Indian generation Z respondentsare showing active response to the sharing economy platforms. In contrast, theSwedish generation Z respondents are exhibiting passive participation towards sharingplatforms due to the various factors which are discussed in detail. The researchexplores how each structure is related in this study to evaluate the attitude of Indianand Swedish generation Z.Supervisor: