This thesis presents a public relations perspective of the sharing economy by exploring how three prominent sharing economy companies, Airbnb, Uber and TaskRabbit, communicate to form a relationship with key stakeholders, including customers and service providers. Employing a qualitative, thematic analysis, this study analyzed each company's website communication and found the relationship qualities of social trust, safety and support to be prominent elements of relationships communicated by each company. Serving as one of the only public relations studies to address the sharing economy, this thesis extends relationship management theory's application to a new socioeconomic movement and situates current sharing economy research in a new context of public relations. This study provides important communication insights for organizations in the sharing economy that rely on strong organization-public relationships in order to be successful, and it unites public relations and sharing economy research. / Master of Arts / This thesis provides the academic discipline of public relations with a new context for understanding the way organizations communicate relationships with the general public and their customers or independent workers (gig workers) in a new environment called the sharing economy. The sharing economy has dramatically altered the way people consume products and services, as it allows people to temporarily share goods and services with strangers through an online platform. The study analyzes three prominent sharing economy companies, Airbnb, Uber and TaskRabbit, using a qualitative method to explore this new, peer-to-peer business model. Through analyzing each company's website communication, the study revealed that companies in the sharing economy communicate the relationship qualities of social trust, safety and support with the public.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/103883 |
| Date | 15 June 2021 |
| Creators | Knight, Andrew Marshall |
| Contributors | Communication, Logan, Nneka, Tedesco, John C., Duncan, Megan A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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