Building Trust in the Sharing Economy : Current Approaches and Future Considerations

Abstract

The sharing economy could be an answer to the challenge of sustainability; it can facilitate the sharing and reuse of resources, create new ways of earning money, and enhance social connections. For example, by reducing the use of natural resources without having to acquire or own everything, the sharing economy can positively affect sustainability. At the core of this type of economy lies trust among users and between users and the platform—the system cannot reach its full potential without trust. In fact, businesses or organizations in the sharing economy can even fail due to trust issues, although more information is needed to make better use of the existing platforms. The aim of this systematic literature review is to study how trust is built in the sharing economy. For this purpose, we introduce 28 solutions to support trust in sharing economy platforms, develop a preliminary model for evaluating trust in this context, and present a few considerations for future research. Platform developers and managers can use our preliminary model to identify trust issues in their platforms.