Sharing reloaded: How digitalization transformed the tenets of sharing

Abstract The prevailing interpretations of sharing have created a conceptual tangle over what genuinely constitutes the sharing economy. The present article clarifies the distinctive characteristics of the digital sharing economy (DSE) by positioning it between, yet apart from, traditional sharing and the formal market economy. Using problematization as the analytical approach, it examines how digitalization has transformed the established tenets of sharing, leading to the emergence of a new economy with distinct markets. In particular, the article argues why pseudo-sharing — exchanges portrayed as acts of sharing, despite their commercial nature — can still be regarded as sharing when viewed through the lens of the digital transition of sharing. To illustrate the unique features of the DSE, this article draws on the concept of matching markets from economics and expands it by introducing the term “augmented matching markets.” This concept incorporates additional factors in the matching process, such as price, past match outcomes, community-driven dynamics, and recurrent engagement in the market. As the discussion unfolds, the DSE’s theoretical stance is compared with other perspectives in the literature. While the proposed ontology departs from mainstream interpretations, it delineates a robust and coherent descriptive framework for the DSE.