Value co-creation in the sharing economy: The role of quality of service provided by peer

Abstract

The mesh of consumer-provider roles in the sharing economy gives a new edge to issues of service quality, customer value and loyalty. Not much is known about how platforms can achieve sustainable competitive advantage through regulation of peers ́ interaction. We find that the quality of service is the cornerstone issue in creation of value and loyalty of users in the sharing economy. Specifically, we find that: quality of service and customer value are antecedents of loyalty. Not all quality dimensions impact loyalty equally. Only offline quality dimensions’ impact customer value. Continuous improvement affects loyalty and customer value indirectly through other quality dimensions. Our study contributes to the literature by relating the full chain of concepts of quality, value and loyalty to the sharing economy setting. We identify specific areas that should be reinforced by the platform in order to increase loyalty of users. By making sharing a better and a more appealing consumer option, the circularity of businesses might be faster achieved.