Peer-to-peer sharing platforms appear as a valid option to stop excessive consumerism. The success of a peer-to-peer sharing platform at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan university mostly depends on the capability to comprehend the potential users’ motives for engagement. To investigate the relative significance of consumer motives for and against this platform, a theoretical model based on a comprehensive set of potential consumer motives was developed. The model was validated by employing a survey of325 participants. Findings suggest ecological sustainability, sense of belonging, trust in other users, and familiarity as the four most important drivers and prerequisites of platform attitude and process risk concerns as the main barrier. Moreover, attitude shows the most significant effect on behavioral intention and is slightly influenced by reasons of age, gender, type of participant, and school to which the participant belongs. Services in general and study materials appear as the items with the highest number of potential consumers and suppliers; while the free system proves to be the preferred system. Based on the findings, recommendations for future research and implementation of the peer-to-peer platform are suggested. / Peer-to-peer-delningsplattformar visas som ett giltigt alternativ för att stoppa överdriven konsumtion. Framgången hos en peer-to-peer- delningsplattform vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan beror oftast på förmågan att förstå de potentiella användarnas motiv för engagemang. För att undersöka den relativa betydelsen av konsumentmotiv för och mot denna plattform, utvecklades en teoretisk modell baserad på en omfattande uppsättning potentiella konsumentmotiv. Modellen validerades genom att använda en undersökning av 325 deltagare. Resultat tyder på ekologisk hållbarhet, känsla av tillhörighet, förtroende för andra användare och förtrogenhet som de fyra viktigaste drivkrafterna och förutsättningarna för plattformshållning och processriskhänsyn som huvudbarriären. Vidare visar attityden den mest signifikanta effekten på beteendets avsikt och påverkas något av ålder, kön, typ av deltagare och skolan som deltagaren tillhör. Tjänster i allmänhet och läromedel förekommer som föremål med högsta möjliga potentiella konsumenter och leverantörer, medan det fria systemet visar sig vara det föredragna systemet. Baserat på resultaten, rekommenderas rekommendationer för framtida forskning och genomförande av peer-to-peer-plattformen.

Modeindustrin är en stor miljöbov som genererar utsläpp från fabriker, långa transporter och från en påtaglig överkonsumtion. I ett modesamhälle med trender i fokus kommer behovet av nyproducerade plagg alltid att finnas kvar. Men cirkulära affärsstrategier, såsom olika typer av delningsekonomier, kommer att spela en avgörande roll för modebranschens framtidaöverlevnad. Om ett plagg används under tre gånger så lång tid som de används idag kan det minska plaggets klimatavtryck med hela 65%, vilket påvisar vikten av cirkulära strategier, där konceptet hyrkläder är en av dessa. Denna studie syftar att kartlägga vilka sociodemografiska faktorer som påverkarkonsumenters hållbara attityd samt viljan att hyra kläder. Vidare undersöks sambandet mellankonsumenters hållbara attityd samt dennes vilja att hyra kläder och ingå i delningsekonomi. Detta för att komma närmare lösningen på problemet om vem den potentiella hyrkunden är och bana väg för företags anpassning av hyrkonceptet. För att besvara frågeställningarna har data samlats in via en kvantitativ online-enkät där en sluten grupp på Facebook fått besvarafrågor kring deras sociodemografiska status, attityd till miljö och hållbarhet samt frågor om benägenheten att hyra. Svaren har sedan sammanställts och ligger till grund förhypotesprövningar som genomförs. Resultatet av studien påvisar inga samband mellan sociodemografiska faktorer gällande varken hållbar attityd eller viljan att hyra kläder med undantag för svag korrelation mellangeografisk plats och viljan att hyra kläder. Däremot visas ett samband mellan konsumenters hållbar attityd och deras vilja att hyra. / The fashion industry has a big impact on our environment and generates emissions from transports, factories, and a significant overconsumption. Studies show that by extending the life of a garment three times longer than its average lifetime today, its climate impact can be reduced by 65%. For this reason, circular business models have grown in importance since they can have a major positive impact on our challenge to decrease our emissions. One answer to this is sharing economy and collaborative fashion consumption, which aims to lengthen the life of a product and ensure a more frequent use. Previous studies have identified both drivers and barriers for consumers to take part in collaborative fashion consumption but not yet described the customer who rents. In this study, attention is therefore paid to collaborative fashion consumption and the customer who wishes to take part. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of socio-demographic factors on the consumer's attitude to environmental sustainability and on the willingness to rent clothes. Further, the study aims to investigate whether there is a connection between an environmentally sustainable attitude and the willingness to rent clothes. Data were collected via a quantitative online survey where members in a closed group on Facebook were able to answer questions about their socio-demographic status, attitude to sustainability as well as questions about the propensity to rent. The results of the study show no correlations between socio-demographic factors regarding neither environmentally sustainable attitude nor the willingness to rent clothes. However, a connection is shown between geographic location and willingness to rent as well as between consumers' environmentally sustainable attitude and their willingness to rent. This study is written in Swedish.

The technological development has enabled structural changes in the real estate market and created a growing concept of space-as-a-service. Space-as-a-service has emerged from the concepts of sharing economy, digitalization and servitization to meet the demand for flexible solutions on the commercial real estate market. The idea of space-as-a-service is to offer simple and flexible access to spaces as well as providing extra services for tenants to create added value. From a sustainable perspective the intention is to decrease the need for new construction and take advantage of the existing building stock to meet demand for space. Most of the previous research on the space-as-a-service concept focus on coworking and sharing spaces but not as much on the broader concept and its rampaging on the real estate market. This study aims to investigate if the concept of space-as-a-service is disruptive for the real estate industry and how real estate owners approach this development. A qualitative research method was applied, using both structured and semi-structured interviews with real estate owners with property holdings in Sweden to get more in-depth information and understanding of the growing concept of space-as-a-service. The Theory of Disruptive Innovations was used as a framework for investigating disruptive signs of space-as-a-service. The driving motives behind space-as-a-service are concluded to mainly derive from an observed demand for freedom of effort and flexibility in the real estate owners´ offerings. We can see a new complex competitive environment, where the real estate industry's service goes from selling “space” to offer a concept. This puts new requirements on real estate owners to justify for more than the location of their premises, in order to keep their competitive position. What positions the real estate owners take in this new landscape differentiates. The attitudes towards space-as-a-service are generally positive, but the perceived risks are explicitly present. External actors and regulations also counteract the development. Thresholds and attitudes collide, making it clear that a change in mindset is needed. However, from the results of our study we can conclude that the concept of space-as-a-service fulfills the characteristics of a disruptive innovation, indicating that this evolution will be disruptive for the real estate industry. / Den tekniska utvecklingen av teknik har möjliggjort strukturella förändringar på fastighetsmarknaden, där man går från att sälja yta till att erbjuda ett koncept. Yta-som-tjänst har växt fram från begreppen delningsekonomi, digitalisering och tjänstefiering för att möta efterfrågan på flexibla lösningar på den kommersiella fastighetsmarknaden. Idén med yta-som-tjänst är att erbjuda enkel och flexibel tillgång till ytor samt att tillhandahålla tjänster till hyresgäster för att skapa mervärde. Ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv är avsikten att minska behovet av nyproduktion och dra nytta av det befintliga fastighetsbeståndet för att möta efterfrågan på lokaler. Tidigare forskning relaterat till yta-som-tjänst fokuserar främst på coworking och delade ytor, men det saknas studier på konceptet ur ett bredare perspektiv och dess framfart på fastighetsmarknaden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om konceptet yta-som-tjänst är disruptivt för fastighetsbranschen samt fastighetsägares inställning till denna utveckling. Resultatinsamlingen genomfördes med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod, där både strukturerade och semistrukturerade intervjuer med kommersiella fastighetsägare i Sverige användes för att få en djupare förståelse för konceptet yta-som-tjänst. Studiens akademiska förankring grundar sig i teorin om Disruptiva Innovationer som används för att granska disruptiva tecken av konceptet yta-som-tjänst. Vi kan dra slutsatsen att drivkrafterna bakom konceptet yta-som-tjänst främst är ökad efterfrågan på besvärsfrihet och flexibilitet i tjänsterna som idag erbjuds av fastighetsägare. Detta skapar en ny och komplex konkurrensmiljö som sätter nya krav på fastighetsägare, de blir tvungna att rättfärdiga för mer än bara läget på en lokal för att behålla sin konkurrenskraft. Vilka roller som fastighetsägare väljer att ta i detta nya landskap varierar sig. Attityderna mot yta-som-tjänst är generellt positiva, men det upplevs finnas flera risker som tillsammans med externa aktörer och regelverk motverkar utvecklingen. Resultatet visar att attityder och trösklar i utvecklingen motsäger varandra och att ett tankeskifte är nödvändigt i flera olika led. Resultatet av vår studie visar att konceptet yta-som-tjänst uppfyller karaktärsdragen för en disruptiv innovation och förväntas expandera till en bredare marknad framöver.

The concept sharing economy (collaborative economy or collaborative consumption) has recently gained attention in several cities over the world, with its promotion offering a prospective new path to sustainable development. In current research, most scholars cover global initiatives or initiatives in larger cities, but very few to none of them seem to have investigated the situation and potential in smaller cities. This empirical study therefore investigates both existing initiatives and work with collaborative consumption as well as the future potential and possible challenges for further promotion in a small town context, using Norrtälje town in Sweden as a case study for exploring the topic. In this study, a sharing economy is defined as a socio-economic system enabling consumers to gain access to commonly under-utilized physical assets in collaborative practices of sharing, borrowing, bartering, swapping, renting, redistributing, buying second-hand, repairing and rebuilding goods, instead of consuming new goods and/or owning privately, taking place either via online platforms or through physical infrastructure, possibly in exchange for financial compensation. A mixed method approach, including both qualitative and quantitative methods, was used in this study. The data collection included semi-structured interviews with both sharing economy initiators and the Norrtälje municipality Sustainability strategist, an online survey shared with residents in Norrtälje, as well a qualitative desk-based study. The collected results were then analysed though the lens of a formed theoretical framework, covering the themes of conditions for success and important stakeholders in a sharing economy context, as well as drivers for starting or using these initiatives and possible environmental, social and economic benefits of implementing a sharing economy. The findings showed that 11 initiatives currently exist in Norrtälje, and that the Norrtälje residents generally are very positive towards using sharing economy services. Further, it was found that the municipality is not actively working with collaborative consumption, but has been, and still is, involved in a few sharing economy activities. The findings of this study contribute to discussions on the actual role of the municipality in a sharing economy context, suggesting that the involvement of the municipality indeed is very important in regards to sharing economy initiatives, but that it is unclear from a municipal perspective whether it is actually included in the role of the municipality to promote and work with sharing economy initiatives. The results from this study suggests that the future for sharing economy initiatives in Norrtälje town looks bright. However, some challenges were found in relation to the promotion of a sharing economy in a small town context, including the current political situation not prioritising municipal involvement, the economic situation of the municipality not being able to prioritise municipal involvement, difficulties in understanding the concept among those who work for the municipality, negative mindsets among municipal workers, and lack of funding to existing and possible future initiatives. These challenges might have to be overcome in order for sharing economy initiatives to be able to grow and thrive. Further, this study found that it is believed from a small town municipal perspective it most likely is easier for a larger city to work with sharing economy initiatives, while on the contrary existing scholars suggest that the small town context might indeed be more beneficial for these types of initiatives.

The act of sharing goods and services is not a new or revolutionary concept in any way. In the internet age, the phenomenon of what has been titled the “sharing economy” has emerged, and touched many different industries and researchers around the world. Incumbent industries, operating in traditional manners, are in today’s society experiencing a pressure to transform. The hotel industry, in particular, is facing the tension of the customers’ shifting behavior, from staying at hotels to using accommodation sharing services instead, such as Airbnb. This study therefore seeks to explore how the sharing economy is impacting the hotel market. A question that has guided the research reads; Is the phenomenon, to the hotel industry, an opportunity or a threat? The research can be followed through a conducted explorative case study on the sharing economy’s manifestation in the Swedish hotel market, which encompasses an exploration of how hotel actors are perceiving and reacting to accommodation sharing. The case is based on gathered data from reviewing written material and conducting qualitative, semi-structured interviews with hotel actors, experts on the hotel industry and experts on the sharing economy. The empirical material has been complemented and processed with the transformational pressure theory and competitive strategic approaches in mind, along with having notions drawn from socio-technical transition theory whereas a Multi-Level Perspective approach is applied to discuss the transition the hotel industry is undergoing. This thesis contributes analytically to the research area of the current transformation in the hotel industry, with implications on how traditional hotel actors can adapt to the emergence of the sharing economy. The case study shows how hotel actors in Sweden, being in a currently prosperous state, are alarmingly positive towards the growing phenomenon of accommodation sharing hence they perceive it as an opportunity and a complement to the industry as minor negative financial effects are evident. However, we argue that traditional hotel actors will, after a coming period of recession, truly realize the effects of the accommodation sharing phenomenon. This since the adoption of sharing services is accelerated in a weaker financial landscape. We are of the perception that the phenomenon has resulted in the emergence of a new customer segment, “Mid Stay“ customers. In the study, we conclude that the hotel actors, no matter size or category, risk losing current customers, as well as the opportunity to attract new ones, if they do not transform and adapt to the ongoing change. Accommodation sharing should be perceived as nothing less than a threat that needs to be acted upon soon to remain sustainable in the now thriving hotel industry. However, the sharing economy is not necessarily a threat that needs to, or can, be eliminated, but rather one from which new profitable opportunities are made available for hotel actors to exploit in order to operate in symbiosis with the phenomenon. / Delning av tjänster och produkter har funnits i urminnes tider och har genom åren berört många industrier och forskare världen över. I eran av internet har fenomenet vuxit och kallas idag för “delningsekonomi”. Vissa etablerade industrier, som arbetar på ett mer traditionellt vis, upplever i dagens samhälle ett tryck på anpassning och förändring. En industri, som i synnerhet upplevt detta är hotellindustrin. Resenärer har nämligen förändrat sitt beteende och mer börjat använda sig av delning av bostäder. Denna studie syftar till att utforska hur delningsekonomin påverkar hotellmarknaden. Frågeställningen har utgått från; Är fenomenet ett hot eller en möjlighet för hotellindustrin? För att besvara detta är studien upplagd som en utforskande fallstudie. Syftet har varit att studera delningsekonomins manifestation på den svenska hotellmarknaden och hur aktörer uppfattar och reagerar mot delning av bostäder. Studien är baserad på granskning av insamlat skriftligt material samt från kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med hotellaktörer, experter inom hotellindustrin och forskare inom delningsekonomi. Det empiriska materialet har alternerats med teorier kring industriellt transformationstryck, konkurrensstrategier och socio-teknisk systemteori där ett multi-nivåperspektiv har applicerats för att analysera förändringen hotellindustrin utsätts för. Denna studie bidrar analytiskt till forskningsområdet inom den pågående förändringen i hotellindustrin med förslag på hur traditionella aktörer kan anpassa sig till delningsekonomins utveckling. Idag är de svenska hotellaktörerna, som befinner sig i en blomstrande affärsmiljö, alarmerande positiva gentemot delning av bostäder. De anser att tjänsten kompletterar utbudet på marknaden med små direkta påvisbara negativa finansiella effekter. Emellertid, argumenterar vi för att efter en oundviklig kommande lågkonjunktur kommer hotellindustrin inse och erfara den negativa effekten av fenomenet med delning av bostäder. Detta orsakat av att delningstjänster ökar i popularitet och adaption under en tid då det finansiella landskapet försämrats. Vi är av uppfattningen att fenomenet har resulterat i etableringen av en ny kundgrupp, vilken vi benämnt “Mid-Stay” kunden. Konklusionen är att hotellen, oberoende av storlek och kategori, dels riskerar att mista sina nuvarande kunder samt möjligheten att attrahera nya om man inte anpassar sig till den dagens verklighet. Enligt vår uppfattning skall delning av bostäder ses som ett så stort hot som föranleder en förändring. Dagens blomstrande industri är sårbar och en framtida anpassning är nödvändig för en fortsatt hållbar utveckling. Delningsekonomin bör för den traditionella hotellindustrin inte ses som ett hot som måste elimineras utan snarare en möjlighet för hotellen att finna nya lönsamma alternativ och leva i symbios med fenomenet.

Background Modern capitalist societies have consumption at the core of their social and economic activities. This is one of the underlying problems that sustainability is facing. In need of solutions and avenues for limiting our footprint and consumption, we turn towards alternative solutions such as coliving as a potential for facilitating sustainable lifestyles in their residents.   Objectives The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate coliving impacts on the sustainability practices of residents within the Swedish urban environment. To do this effectively, the theoretical framework of this thesis will primarily utilize practice theory, as well as institutional theory and clan control theory to a secondary degree, to explore their interactions between coliving social structures and residential agents in terms of following sustainable activities and compare those with a single living household. Through conducting interviews with the residents of the Coliving and single living in line with these frameworks, this thesis aims to explore to a greater degree how the coliving housing model can contribute to more sustainable lifestyles.   Methods A qualitative research strategy was chosen for the study with a two-case comparative study design. To further explore the complexity of the interactions between agents and properties of social structures, data collection methods were utilized, such as semi-structured interviews with residents of coliving and single-living. The analytical approach was conducted through a thematic data analysis method.   Results The Coliving initiative stimulates sustainable lifestyles by creating a set of social structures and cultural rules that promotes interaction, diversity, and sustainable lifestyles. The design of the Coliving initiative activated the most evident and impactful change mechanisms. Specifically, the built environment that is diverse and flexible and facilitates variations of facilities and immense recourses accessible for the residents to interact and use for different moods and behaviors. The recruitment process facilitates a foundation of balance between diversity and like-minded individuals for learning potentials and collaboration. The governance structure of the community-based organization is nonhierarchical participatory, and consensus-based, and the community is self-organized. These features have shown to promote collaboration and interaction between individuals and stimulate sustainable practices. Last, the cultural rules of the community also promote interactions and collaboration, as well as many of the social sustainability principles and anti-consumption practices.   Conclusions The coliving, compared to the single-living, has much more quantitive, qualitative, and diverse set of structures with sustainable properties that brings the residents more or less into the situation where a greening of their corresponding lifestyles becomes a very convenient option.

Today our city cores are being transformed. Not only have they been transformed from a place of production to a place of consumption, but more recently also the city core as a place of work are being challenged by increasing land prices and the desire to live centrally and urban. An urban lifestyle has in some ways become an exclusive benefit for the most wealthy, and the tall residential towers symbolizes this new urban, transnational elite, that wants the qualities of a living city center but prefers to live high up in the sky. Though this elite sometimes never lives there, since they only see the apartments as investments, as a “money deposit”. These buildings increase gentrification and segregation since they push up the housing prices of the city cores and provide no public functions, we get excluding cities rather than including. In my thesis project I speculate how we can prevent our city centers from becoming an excluding and exclusive gated community, and I develop a general redesign strategy for the exclusive residential tower typology. I have searched for a collective rather than individualistic approach, that considers both environmental and social sustainability.

Digital currencies represent complementary alternatives to fiat money in the conventional mental models of exchange. Blockchain, as the underlying technology of Bitcoin, holds a potential to influence a peer-to-peer exchange in the perspective of trust and ownership. The underlying technologies of digital currencies may be part of concepts, where designers have a possibility to define their own exchange articles for specific needs of the exchange. The ambition of this report is to illustrate the possibilities for the initiation of a peer-to-peer exchange with use of the underlying technologies beyond Bitcoin. The explorative approach provided me material for the retrospective reflection to achieve this ambition. The thesis project consisted three iterations, one experiment, and a literature overview. The main conceptual work illustrates the result of explorative research, where blockchain ensures trust between participating parties. This ecosystem uses the principles of sharing economy for initialisation of exchange within the community. This concept demonstrates potential opportunities for future transactions, in which the exchange article replaces fiat money.

Ride-hailing platforms (RHP) are sharing economy platforms that connect passengers who need to order a private ride or to share a vehicle with drivers who want to share a ride. However, after rapid growth, major RHPs (e.g., Uber, Lyft, and Didi) have begun to face severe driver shortages. Attracting and maintaining a large driver base is critical to the survival and success of any RHP no matter its size. While practitioners are urging to seek suggestions from academia to prevent driver loss, limited research attention has been paid to RHP drivers’ discontinuance. To fill this gap, this dissertation aims to explore factors that motivate drivers to discontinue using RHPs from the perspective of algorithm unfairness. The algorithm is the boss of ride-hailing drivers as they are matched, paid, and evaluated by various algorithms. While algorithms have the potential to make the ride-hailing process more efficient, they also yield socially biased outcomes which create inequalities and uncomfortable experiences for both drivers and riders which may further influence their decisions to use to not use RHPs. Following the logic, the research question of the current dissertation is “how does algorithm unfairness of RHPs affect drivers’ discontinuance?” Stressor-strain-outcome model and organizational justice theory are adapted to the ride-hailing context based on the contextualization approach to serve as theoretical frameworks of the current study. An online survey is conducted to empirically test drivers’ discontinuance of ride-hailing platforms. Research participants of the studies are recruited by employing the service provided by Prolific. co. Data analysis is conducted by employing the covariance-based structural equation modeling approach by following previously defined approaches. The results support most of the hypotheses. The study is expected to contribute to the current literature on information systems discontinuance, ride-hailing, IT stress, AI-empowered algorithm management, algorithm unfairness, dark side of AI, stressor-strain-outcome model, and organizational justice theory. My dissertation is also expected to offer rich insights into how to retain the user base effectively for practitioners in emerging sharing economy platforms. Moreover, the results of the current dissertation also offer rich implications on how to manage dispersed workforces using AI-empowered algorithms.

This qualitative case study examines technology-facilitated gender-based violence in relation to network hospitality platform Couchsurfing.com. Motivated by experiences of many women, including my own, and an identified research gap in the academia on the topic, the research seeks to understand how Couchsurfing.com facilitates gender-based violence, with a specific focus on women. The present research is based on a single, explanatory case study methodology, focused on the thematic of analysis of the podcast “Verified”, concerning the case of Italian Couchsurfer and policeman Dino Maglio, who systematically drugged and sexually assaulted his Couchsurfing guests. Key findings highlight how Couchsurfing enabled and perpetuated gender-based violence, by not preventing the creation of new profiles and possible retaliation against negative references, and most importantly, by never admitting to any responsibility. While this violence was facilitated by Couchsurfing.com, other hegemonic social structures and institutions were found in the study to be further perpetuating this violence, in particular the police and the judiciary system. While acknowledging the limitation of a single case study, this master’s thesis contributes to an ever-increasing body of literature on technology-facilitated gender-based violence by shedding light on the different dynamics at play in an online-to-offline Couchsurfing exchange.