Evaluation of factors having an impact on the development of the sharing economy

Abstract

The dissertation examines the development opportunities of the sharing economy, considering the main driving factors. The scientific literature revealed that the researchers had focused on the sharing economy’s regulation issues, investigated the impact of the sharing economy on the accommodation and transportation sectors, and analysed the issue of trust in the sharing economy. However, there is a lack of a more in-depth analysis of the factors that influence the development of the sharing activity. The object of the dissertation is the sharing economy. The goal is to develop and empirically approve a conceptual model for assessing the enabling environment for the sharing economy’s development. Thus, the main tasks of the dissertation are to conduct a scientific literature analysis on the sharing economy and define its concept; provide a definition of the sharing economy; develop a methodological framework to assess the enabling environment for the sharing economy’s development considering the main factors; based on the analysis of the scientific literature, identify the development factors of the sharing economy and develop a set of indicators to assess the enabling environment for the sharing economy’s development; and to verify a practical application of the model for assessing the enabling environment of the sharing economy’s development on the example of selected countries. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, conclusions, and annexes. The introduction discusses the investigated problem and the importance of the dissertation, describes the object of research, formulates the aims and objectives, describes the research methodology, highlights the scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation, and presents the defended statements. The First Chapter presents the scientific literature on the sharing economy, presents the concept of sharing economy, reveals the advantages brought by the sharing economy, and discusses the factors for the emergence of the sharing economy. The Second Chapter presents the methodology, which implies choosing a set of indicators and the formation of a Sharing Economy Development Factor Index (SEDFI) describing factors affecting the development of the sharing economy in a country. Finally, the Third Chapter presents the empirical analysis based on the proposed methodology, carried out for 26 selected European Union countries.