Investigating antecedents that drive intentionsof using sharing economy platforms

In the last decade, the sharing economy has experienced significant growth due to the development of various digital platforms. The sharing economy business model, which is based on digital platforms, has improved the way individuals access and use products and services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations among social and technological factors and the behavioural intentions of users of sharing economy platforms. A structured questionnaire was developed based on scales validated in previous research and used to investigate the relationship between the different dimensions of the aforementioned factors. To achieve the research objective, an empirical study was conducted using the structured questionnaire on a sample of 618 users of sharing economy platforms. The research results suggest that a higher level of subjective norms and trust in sharing economy platforms leads to a higher level of perceived usefulness and ease of use. Furthermore, a positive influence of WOM referrals on perceived ease of use was found, while the influence of WOM referrals on perceived usefulness was found to be insignificant. In addition, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use had a statistically significant influence on behavioural intentions reflected in future use of this technology. A more detailed understanding of the relationship between the aforementioned factors will enable service providers to better understand and target different consumer segments and optimize marketing strategies to encourage participation in sharing economy activities. The research findings in this paper contribute to marketing theory, especially in the context of consumer behaviour theory and socio-technical theory.