Implications for Designing Sustainable Digital Sharing Systems

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of digital sharing platforms by individuals as well as companies in various sectors. These platforms - such as Uber, Airbnb, Couchsurfing, BlaBlaCar, and many others - are predominantly associated with the sharing economy phenomenon. Due to affordability, efficiency, convenience and accessibility of their services, sharing platforms have appeared to be an attractive way of accessing resources for consumers. From a sustainability perspective, it is however important to investigate how the growth of digitally enabled sharing can affect the prevailing consumption patterns as well as socio-economic structures. The present work aims to address the category of potential sustainability impacts of shared consumption and sharing practices on the environment and society that should be considered in designing digital sharing systems in order to see how they can promote or hinder sustainability.