Vulnerability and Perceived Risks in the Sharing Economy : The Prosumer Perspective

The sharing economy, as an attractive alternative to permanent ownership, creates a triadic relationship among three groups of participants: service enablers, providers, and users. One of its main features is the expansion of the role of the consumer to the roles of user and provider, called “prosumer”. Despite their importance, prosumers have not received commensurate attention in the sharing economy literature. To address this gap, we examine the impact of consumer vulnerability on risk perceptions in the role of prosumer (i.e., user and provider), and illuminate the impact of these risks on intentions to participate. Results from a U.S. survey indicate that vulnerability is a significant driver of all types of risks, for both users and providers. Health risk, psychological risk and security risk are found to significantly decrease intention to participate. Unexpectedly, social risk increases intention to participate among users and providers, while privacy risk is insignificant