UberPOP-Vehicles of uncertainty : - An exploratory study on consumers´perceived risk in the saring economy

Abstract: The sharing economy is a topic that is discussed continuously in the media as it continues to grow and large corporations continue to flourish. This disruptive technology in coalition with regulatory question marks has allowed sharing economy companies to change the business landscape in a number of industries in a short amount of time. However, there has been little investigation into how consumers perceive risk when using sharing economy companies in comparison to their traditional counterpart. This thesis looks at both the dimensions of perceived risk in addition to the antecedents of perceived risk in order to establish what makes a consumer perceive something as ‘risky’. A qualitative study was carried out through semi-structured interviews with drivers at UberPOP and Taxi Stockholm, as well as with passengers that have travelled with both companies. From our analysis we conclude that consumers perceived risks as higher in traditional companies in comparison to sharing economy companies.