Unravelling the antecedents of misbehaviours in the sharing economy: a motivated cognition perspective

PurposeIn the sharing economy (SE), consumer misbehaviour is an operational challenge for platforms due to its negative outcomes. The psychological mechanism behind consumer misbehaviour remains unclear. As such, this research aims to investigate how consumers' sharing motivations affect their misbehaviours in the SE.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on motivated cognition theory, the authors establish a research model explaining the effects of consumers' sharing motivations on their cost–benefit analysis of misbehaviour and misbehaviour intention. A scenario-based online experiment is used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that consumers' extrinsic and intrinsic motivations to share have different impacts on their perceived benefits and costs of potential misbehaviour, thereby influencing their misbehaviour intention.Originality/valueThis study reveals consumers' psychological mechanism underlying their misbehaviours in the SE and provides operational implications for platforms to help them effectively reduce consumer misbehaviours through preventive measures.