A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL AND CONSUMPTION VALUES ON CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE IN SHARING ECONOMY SERVICES:

Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the influence of individualism and collectivism on consumer willingness to participate in sharing economy services. The data collected was analyzed through different analytical techniques using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) software. The findings reveal that individualism and collectivism are both significantly positively associated with consumer willingness to participate in sharing economy services. However, the comparative analysis of young and middle-aged group consumers reveals that individualism, a trait of the younger generation, is comparatively has a stronger effect on consumer willingness to participate in sharing economy services.

The contribution of the study is many-fold for the practitioners in the field of sharing economy. The comparison of two different consumer groups of sharing economy services provide guideline for service provider to plan and design these services according to the benefits sought by consumers from different age groups. Similarly, marketing managers should also pay attention while devising promotion strategies by communicating those benefits which are of crucial importance for consumers from different categories.