Dare to Share: User Value Co-creation in the Sharing Economy

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to explore the impact users have on value co-creation in the sharing economy. More specifically, we aim to examine the values users can co-create for each other through exchanges and interactions within the sharing economy. Because the sharing economy is a recent phenomenon, an explorative research design has been chosen with a qualitative study. 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather data on personal experiences with Airbnb, which was the company chosen to illustrate the concept. This company was chosen because it is a financially successful, international sharing economy company and therefore reflects the concept’s impact. Overall, it was found that users can have an impact on the value of other users of the sharing economy through saving them time, money, providing security, and enhancing the overall experience.