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An alternative marketplace of the 21st century and its underlying values : understanding the effects of materialist and post-materialist values on people’s participation in the Sharing Economy

Rau, L.S. (2018) An alternative marketplace of the 21st century and its underlying values : understanding the effects of materialist and post-materialist values on people’s participation in the Sharing Economy.

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Abstract:This thesis examines the effect of material and post-material value orientations, as coined by Ronald Inglehart, on people’s participation in the Sharing Economy in terms of frequency and motivation. In line with previous research, the following hypotheses are stated: people with stronger post-materialist values, younger age, university education and an urban living area are expected to participate (a) on a higher frequency and (b) due to social and environmental motivations. In comparison, people with stronger materialist values, older age, vocational training or lower education and a rural, suburban or small town living area are expected to participate (a) on a lower frequency and (b) due to economic motivations. The effects of age, education and living area on frequency of participation and type of motivation are expected (c) to be mediated by people’s value orientation (materialist vs. post-materialist). Quantitative data was collected from 217 survey respondents. The results show that materialists are in fact more tempted to participate due to economic motivation while post-materialists are more driven by social and environmental motivations; that younger people do participate on a higher frequency compared to older people; and that people with university education participate on a higher frequency compared to people with vocational training or lower education. The variable of people’s value orientation does not have the expected mediation effects. The research concludes that materialist or post-materialist value orientations affect people’s participation in the Sharing Economy only to a very limited extent.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:70 social sciences in general
Programme:Management Society and Technology BSc (56654)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/75885
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