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Petruzzi, M., Marques, C. & Sheppard, V. (2020). Assessing the sharing and exchange characteristics of fairbnb.coop. Conferência Internacional “Comunidades e Redes para a Inovação Territorial".

M. Petruzzi et al.,  "Assessing the sharing and exchange characteristics of fairbnb.coop", in Conferência Internacional “Comunidades e Redes para a Inovação Territorial", Aveiro, 2020

@misc{petruzzi2020_1716241316703,
	author = "Petruzzi, M. and Marques, C. and Sheppard, V.",
	title = "Assessing the sharing and exchange characteristics of fairbnb.coop",
	year = "2020",
	doi = "10.34624/rk1t-t230",
	url = "https://www.ua.pt/pt/confcenter"
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Assessing the sharing and exchange characteristics of fairbnb.coop
T2  - Conferência Internacional “Comunidades e Redes para a Inovação Territorial"
AU  - Petruzzi, M.
AU  - Marques, C.
AU  - Sheppard, V.
PY  - 2020
DO  - 10.34624/rk1t-t230
CY  - Aveiro
UR  - https://www.ua.pt/pt/confcenter
AB  - The  sharing  economy  involves  individuals  sharing  underutilized  physical  assets,  for  some  form  of  compensation,  for  short periods  of  time,  mostly  intermediated  through  online  platforms  (Belk,  2014;  Frenken  &  Schor,  2017;  Hamari, Sjöklint,  & Ukkonen, 2016; Wirtz et al.,  2019). Although notions of sharing are often associated with positive connotations (Frenken & Schor, 2017;  Heinrichs, 2013), the sharing economy is increasingly associated with negative realities. Such negative realities generally  arise  from  the  commercially-focused  business  model  under  which  many  organizations  of  the  sharing  economy function  (Nieuwland  &  Van  Melik,  2020).  This  is  particularly  so  as  it  relates  to  the  tourism  industry  and  tourism-focused destinations (Dolnicar & Talebi, 2020). In response to some of these challenges, a new organization recently emerged (2019) in  the  tourism  accommodation  sector -Fairbnb.coop.  It  represents  an  alternative  business  model  that  reinvests  in  local community projects and is aimed at the social sustainability of the host community (Fairbnb.coop, n.d.). This  study  is  focused  on analysingthe  extent  to  which  Fairbnb.coop  represents  a  sharing  economy  organization.  More specifically, it aims to: (1) analyse how the characteristics of the sharing economy are represented by Fairbnb.coop; and, (2) identify where the organization falls with the Sharing-Exchange Continuum proposed by Habibi, Kim and Laroche (2016). To achieve  this  study’s  goals,  semi-structured  interviews  were  conducted  with  three  leading  co-founders  of  Fairbnb.coop.  The interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes and were recorded with consent and transcribed for data analysis. A qualitative content analysis was undertaken (Cole, 1988), through a deductive approach, in which the categories for analysis were defined before the coding process (Mayring, 2014). The categories were developed from the characteristics adopted by Habibi et al. (2016). The analysis indicates that Fairbnb.coop demonstrates the sharing characteristics of social bonds, senseof joint ownership, dependent, similarity to real sharing, social reproduction, singularity and money non-importance embodied in the organization. However, Fairbnb.coop also embodies the exchange characteristics of reciprocation, money relevance and calculation.  The analysis  further  indicates  that  Fairbnb.coop  represents  a  strong  example  of  sharing  over  exchange  characteristics  and  is therefore positioned closer to the sharing side of the continuum as opposed to the exchange side. Consequently, Fairbnb.coop has  the  potential  to  promote  a  more  sustainable  form  of  development  within  host  communities,  as  it  demonstrates characteristics  associated  with  sharing,  including the  goal  of  minimizing  the negative  impacts  associated  with  some  sharing economy practices.  From  a  theorical  perspective,  this  study  presents  a  new  method  to  assess  the  positioning  of  organizations  in  the  Sharing-Exchange continuum. While Habibi et al. (2016) applied a quantitative analysis based on customers point of view, this study uses a qualitative method based on the organization perspective. From a practical perspective, the findings of this study may assist organizations who wish to minimize the negative impacts associated with some sharing economy practices. Undeniably, these findingsrequire future examination. For example, future studies could analyse to what extent Fairbnb.coop positively impacts the social sustainability of host communities.
ER  -