A Leap into Faith: Determinants of Trust in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

Trust in the sharing economy: an interplay between calculation and feeling How does trust between strangers come about in the sharing economy? This question is central to Maarten ter Huurne's PhD research. In the sharing economy, people exchange things and services with each other, but they are often strangers to each other. This entails potential risks. For example, someone can handle your things carelessly or even endanger your own safety. Mutual trust is therefore crucial, especially given that, unlike in traditional companies, there are often no rules and contracts to fall back on. His research shows that sharing economy users trust each other through a mix of both calculation and feeling. An important objective indicator for trust is someone's online reputation. Consumers rely on reputation even when the other person has already made his good intentions sufficiently clear in other ways. In addition, sharing economy users make use of more subjective indications. For example, it appears that a person's online self-description is used to estimate that person’s trustworthiness. This is remarkable, because it is easy to exaggerate or even to lie in such a text. A sense of community also can create trust between sharing economy users. In order to answer his research question, Maarten ter Huurne conducted a review of existing research and carried out three field studies.