Collaborative consumption is a peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange of goods and services facilitated by online platforms. This phenomenon is driven by technologies that make it easier and cheaper to redistribute and share the use of existing but underutilized private resources. It is embedded in the paradigm shift in society towards access-based consumption, in opposition to acquisition and private individual ownership. Firms take on the new role of enabler of collaborative consumption by developing online platforms and smartphone apps that facilitate P2P exchanges between people in their roles of peer providers and consumers. Collaborative consumption is anchored to two opposite logics of consumption: sharing and market exchange. This results in the Heart & Wallet paradox with its tensions between a pro-social orientation and communal norms on the one hand, and a for-profit orientation and market norms on the other hand. While diverse societal and regulatory aspects of the so-called “sharing economy” are discussed in popular debate, scholars have yet to catch up on the theoretical implications from these influences on business activities and consumer behavior. This thesis aims to improve the understanding of collaborative consumption by contributing to the conceptualization of this new phenomenon as intertwined with coexisting sharing and market logics. The research is based on two papers taking the perspective of the firms operating online platforms that facilitate collaborative consumption, and two papers taking the perspective of the peer providers and consumers participating in P2P exchanges. The context of shared mobility (i.e. P2P car rental, ridesharing) is explored through three cases, using interviews with online platform managers and participants in collaborative consumption, participant observation, a netnography, a cross-sectional survey of platform users, and document analyses. This thesis situates collaborative consumption in the access paradigm, based on the temporal redistribution and monetization of private resources facilitated via online platforms, while nurturing the feelings of communal belonging and the sharing ethos embedded in P2P exchanges. Investigating the tensions of the Heart & Wallet paradox of collaborative consumption, I highlight the opposing rationales between the sharing logic of the original nonmonetary practices initiated by grassroots communities and the market logic of platform business models. I further emphasize the key function of communal identification for participants and the role of perceived sharing authenticity—the pitfalls of sharewashing for firms. This thesis contributes to service research by advancing the understanding of P2P exchanges and the conceptualization of collaborative consumption. Kollaborativ konsumtion bygger på P2P-utbyte (peer-to-peer) av varor och tjänster genom online-plattformar. Detta fenomen drivs på av teknologi som gör det enklare och billigare att dela användningen av befintliga men underutnyttjade privata resurser. Det är inbäddat i paradigmskiftet i samhället mot tillgångsbaserad konsumtion, i motsats till privat ägande. Företag får en ny roll som underlättare av kollaborativ konsumtion där privatpersoner istället intar rollerna som både leverantörer och konsumenter. Kollaborativ konsumtion är förankrat i två motsatta logiker: delning och varuutbyte. Detta resulterar i Heart & Wallet-paradoxen med spänningar emellan en pro-social orientering som bygger på gemensamma normer, och en vinstdrivande orientering baserad på marknadsnormer. Medan det funnits en debatt kring den så kallade ”delningsekonomin” och dess samhälleliga och legala implikationer, så har den akademiska debatten ännu ej hunnit ta fart kring dess påverkan på affärsverksamhet och konsumentbeteende. Avhandlingen syftar till att förbättra förståelsen av kollaborativ konsumtion genom att bidra till konceptualiseringen av detta fenomen där delningslogik och marknadslogik samexisterar. Avhandlingen är baserad på två artiklar som undersöker kollaborativ konsumtion från ett företagsperspektiv och två artiklar där begreppet studeras ur de deltagande individernas perspektiv. Kontexten ”shared mobility” (d.v.s. privat biluthyrning, samåkning) undersöks i tre organisationer med hjälp av intervjuer med anställda på onlineplattformar och deltagare i kollaborativ konsumtion, deltagarobservationer, en nätnografi, en tvärsnittsundersökning av plattformsanvändare och dokumentanalyser. Avhandlingen placerar kollaborativ konsumtion i paradigmet kring studier av tillgång till tjänster, där den temporära omfördelningen i tid och monetariseringen av privata resurser underlättas via online-plattformar, samtidigt som den gemensamma tillhörigheten och det ”delningsetos” som finns inbäddat i P2P-utbyten uppmuntras. Genom att undersöka spänningarna i Heart & Wallet-paradoxen i kollaborativ konsumtion, belyser jag motsättningarna mellan delningslogiken från gräsrotsrörelsen och marknadslogiken i plattformsaffärsmodellerna. Vidare diskuterar jag den centrala rollen av ”communal identification”-upplevelsen av autencitet vid delning av resurser för kollaborativ konsumtion. Avhandlingen bidrar till tjänsteforskningen kring tillgång till tjänster genom en ökad förståelse av P2P-utbyten och en konceptualisering av kollaborativ konsumtion.

This dynamic book explores the importance of collaborative consumption, which is particularly relevant at a time when the sharing economy has established itself as part of the mainstream market. Nearly 40 expert scholars across the globe go beyond the existing literature to investigate understudied community efforts and spaces, including innovative topics such as hand-me-downs and coworking.

In-depth, authoritative overview of sustainability issues and how sustainability is integrated into management and marketing theory and practices Marketing and Sustainability equips readers in the fields of management and marketing with an in-depth understanding of sustainability issues and how sustainability is integrated into business. Examples from across the globe are included on topics such as how businesses use services, sharing practices, and sustainable business models in their operations to face increasing demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limited resources, and increased global competition. This book is concerned with consumer and business markets, considering marketing practices as part of business administration. Up-to-date and topical areas of research such as the sharing economy, are thoroughly discussed and illustrated with supporting models, figures, and vignettes. The book is accompanied by a companion site for instructors and faculty, which includes PowerPoint slides and exam Q&A’s. Videos introducing each chapter’s content are also available via YouTube. Written by a team of highly qualified academics, Marketing and Sustainability includes information on: Factors influencing consumers and their choices, sustainable marketing practices and their effectiveness, and how to communicate sustainability initiatives through marketing campaigns Strategies to be heard in a crowded, branded world, and sustainability business models including product-service systems, social enterprises, and sharing and circular economy models Sustainable marketing strategies including chapters on sustainable marketing channels, sustainable pricing, sustainability oriented marketing communication and branding Greenwashing, the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound, and why it’s bound to backfire Marketing and Sustainability is an essential reference for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students as well as managers in companies, the public sector, and civil society—all of whom are under increasing pressure to deal with marketing and sustainability for strategic purposes as well as in everyday practices.

The overall purpose of the thesis is to explore the meaning of professionalism and independence for the individuals within the audit arena. Professionalism is defined as the occupational values that guide auditors’ professional behaviour, and how independence is understood is assumed to be influenced by the social groups the auditors identify with. The audit arena consists of several social actors, i.e. the audit profession, audit firms, and auditors, as well as external constituencies of the profession, i.e. accountors and accountees. The audit profession both serves the public interest by quality-ensuring the information provided by the accountors to the accountees as well as conducts business in a state-sanctioned monopoly-like market. Appearing independent and professional is therefore critical for the profession as independence and professionalism is the basis of society’s trust in the profession and may particularly influence the profession’s ability to recruit and retain staff. The audit profession, audit firms, offices and audit teams are social groups which influence the values, attitudes, and behaviours of the auditors through the process of socialization into the profession and the audit firm. However, accountors (i.e. clients) and accountees (i.e. stakeholders such as investors) are also social actors, who may influence the values, attitudes, and behaviour of auditors, if auditors identify with these social actors. Exploring the social identities at ‘play’ within the audit arena enables us to more fully understand the values that guide professional work. The thesis empirically investigates the social identity audit arena through potential, current, and former audit employees’ perceptions of the audit arena, where the data is both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) in nature. The empirical material provides both pre-socialized and post-socialized perspectives on the audit arena, where the bulk of the material stems from the pre-socialized perspective. The thesis suggests that there are two types of auditors, namely small client auditors and large client auditors, where the small client auditor group dominates the audit arena. The role of the small client auditor is described differently from the large (public) client auditor’s role. The small client auditor is perceived as a teacher who helps the clients run their businesses better, and avoid problems with tax authorities et cetera, making it necessary for the auditor to have a good and close relationship with the client in order to fulfil her/his role. The large client auditor is described more as having the ‘traditional’ guardians of the market role. Hence, it seems as the small client auditor is guided by other values and has a different understanding of independence compared to the large client auditor. However, the large client auditor is also perceived as having a counselling teacher role, indicating that some professional values are shared by small client and large client auditors. These different roles auditors are perceived to have, where independence and working for the public interest seem to mean different things, can influence how new audit employees perceive the profession. If employees expect to work as ‘large client auditors’, but instead experience work being guided by small client auditor values (or vice versa), it may influence the willingness to stay in the profession. These two roles are also a potential factor influencing the expectation gap, i.e. the gap between what society thinks the auditor does and what s/he does in practice. These two roles may therefore influence society’s image of the auditor, and where the profession may have issues in appearing independent in the relationship with small clients. Avhandlingens övergripande syfte är att utforska innebörden av professionalism och oberoende för individerna inom revisionsarenan. Professionalism definieras som de yrkesrelaterade värderingarna som styr hur man som professionell revisor bör agera och hur oberoende förstås antas påverkas av vilka sociala grupper revisorn identifierar sig med. Revisionsarenan består av flera sociala aktörer, nämligen revisionsprofessionen, revisionsbyråer, och revisorer, och även externa intressenter till professionen, nämligen redovisningsskyldiga och redovisningsberättigade. Revisionsprofessionen har ett viktigt samhällsuppdrag att kvalitetssäkra informationen som de redovisningsskyldiga tillhåller de redovisningsberättigade. Dock bedriver professionen samtidigt affärer på den monopolmarknad professionen har genom den lagstadgade revisionen. För professionen är det därmed av yttersta vikt att framstå som oberoende och professionell, då oberoende och professionalism är grunden för samhällets tillit till professionen. Innebörden av professionalism och oberoende inom revisionsarenan kan speciellt påverka professionens möjligheter att rekrytera och behålla personal. Revisionsprofessionen, revisionsbyråerna, arbetskontoren och revisionsteamen är sociala grupper som påverkar revisorers värderingar, attityder och beteende genom socialiseringen in i professionen och revisionsbyrån. De redovisningsskyldiga (klienter) och de redovisningsberättigade (intressenter så som investerare) är andra sociala aktörer som kan påverka revisorers värderingar, attityder och beteende, om revisorerna identifierar sig med dessa sociala grupper. Genom att utforska vilka sociala identiteter som verkar inom revisionsarenan kan vi få större kunskap kring vilka värderingar som styr det professionella arbetet. Avhandlingen undersöker potentiella, nuvarande och före detta revisionsmedarbetares uppfattningar om revisionsarenan, där empirin både är av kvalitativ (intervjuer) och kvantitativ (enkäter) natur. Det empiriska materialet ger både ett ‘försocialiserat’ och ‘eftersocialiserat’ perspektiv på revisionsarenan, där tyngden ligger på det försocialiserade perspektivet. Avhandlingen tyder på att det finns två typer av revisorer, nämligen ‘småbolagsrevisorer’ och ‘storbolagsrevisorer’, där ‘småbolagsrevisorer’ är den största gruppen. ‘Småbolagsrevisorns’ roll beskrivs annorlunda jämfört med hur ‘storbolagsrevisorns’ roll beskrivs. ‘Småbolagsrevisorn’ uppfattas som en lärare som hjälper klienterna att driva sina företag bättre, och undvika problem med Skatteverket med mera, vilket innebär att revisorn måste ha en god och nära relation med klienten för att kunna uppfylla sin roll. ‘Storbolagsrevisorn’ beskrivs mer som revisorsrollen traditionell beskrivs, d.v.s. som en ‘marknadsväktare’ och en oberoende granskare. Det verkar alltså som att ‘småbolagsrevisorn’ utgår ifrån andra professionella värderingar och har en annan förståelse av oberoende jämfört med ‘storbolagsrevisorn’. Dock uppfattas ‘storbolagsrevisorn’ även ha en rådgivande lärarroll, vilket indikerar att ‘småbolagsrevisorer’ och ‘storbolagsrevisorer’ delar vissa professionella värderingar. Dessa olika roller som revisorer upplevs ha, där oberoende och arbete för det allmännas intresse verkar betyda olika saker, kan påverka hur nya anställda upplever revision som yrke. Om anställda förväntar sig att arbeta som en ’storbolagsrevisor’ men istället får uppleva yrket som en ’småbolagsrevisor’ (eller tvärtom) så kan det påverka viljan att vara kvar i yrket. Dessa två roller är även en potentiell aspekt som påverkar förväntansgapet, dvs skillnaden mellan vad samhället tror att revisorn gör och vad hen faktiskt gör. Dessa två roller kan alltså påverka samhällets bild av revisorn, där revisionsprofessionen kan ha svårt att hävda sig vara oberoende gentemot dessa mindre klienter.

Providing a comprehensive overview of the urban sharing economy, this Modern Guide takes a forward-looking perspective on how sharing goods and services may facilitate future sustainability of consumption and production. It highlights recent developments and issues, with cutting-edge discussions from leading international scholars in business, engineering, environmental management, geography, law, planning, sociology and transport studies.

For a century, economists have driven forward the cause of globalization in financial institutions, labour markets, and trade. Yet there have been consistent warning signs that a global economy and free trade might not always be advantageous. Where are the pressure points? What could be done about them? Dani Rodrik examines the back-story from its seventeenth-century origins through the milestones of the gold standard, the Bretton Woods Agreement, and the Washington Consensus, to the present day. Although economic globalization has enabled unprecedented levels of prosperity in advanced countries and has been a boon to hundreds of millions of poor workers in China and elsewhere in Asia, it is a concept that rests on shaky pillars, he contends. Its long-term sustainability is not a given. The heart of Rodrik’s argument is a fundamental 'trilemma': that we cannot simultaneously pursue democracy, national self-determination, and economic globalization. Give too much power to governments, and you have protectionism. Give markets too much freedom, and you have an unstable world economy with little social and political support from those it is supposed to help. Rodrik argues for smart globalization, not maximum globalization.

The New York Times–bestselling author describes how current trends will create an era when anything and everything is available for almost nothing. In The Zero Marginal Cost Society, New York Times–bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin uncovers a paradox at the heart of capitalism that has propelled it to greatness but is now taking it to its death—the inherent entrepreneurial dynamism of competitive markets that drives productivity up and marginal costs down, enabling businesses to reduce the price of their goods and services in order to win over consumers and market share. (Marginal cost is the cost of producing additional units of a good or service, if fixed costs are not counted.) While economists have always welcomed a reduction in marginal cost, they never anticipated the possibility of a technological revolution that might bring marginal costs to near zero, making goods and services priceless, nearly free, and abundant, and no longer subject to market forces. Now, a formidable new technology infrastructure—the Internet of things (IoT)—is emerging with the potential of pushing large segments of economic life to near zero marginal cost in the years ahead. Rifkin describes how the Communication Internet is converging with an Energy Internet and Logistics Internet to create a new technology platform that connects all. There are billions of sensors feeding Big Data into an IoT global neural network. Prosumers can connect to the network and use Big Data, analytics, and algorithms to accelerate efficiency, dramatically increase productivity, and lower the marginal cost of producing and sharing a wide range of products and services to near zero, just like they now do with information goods. The plummeting of marginal costs is spawning a hybrid economy—part capitalist market and part Collaborative Commons—with far reaching implications for society, according to Rifkin. Hundreds of millions of people are already transferring parts of their economic lives to the global Collaborative Commons. Prosumers are plugging into the IoT and making and sharing their own information, entertainment, green energy, and 3D-printed products at near zero marginal cost. Students are enrolling in free massive open online courses (MOOCs) that operate at near zero marginal cost. Social entrepreneurs are even bypassing the banking establishment and using crowdfunding to finance startup businesses as well as creating alternative currencies in the fledgling sharing economy. In this new world, social capital is as important as financial capital, access trumps ownership, sustainability supersedes consumerism, cooperation ousts competition, and “exchange value” in the capitalist marketplace is increasingly replaced by “sharable value” on the Collaborative Commons. Rifkin concludes that capitalism will remain with us, albeit in an increasingly streamlined role, primarily as an aggregator of network services and solutions, allowing it to flourish as a powerful niche player in the coming era. We are, however, says Rifkin, entering a world beyond markets where we are learning how to live together in an increasingly interdependent global Collaborative Commons.