The sharing economy in social media - analyzing tensions between market and non-market logics

Journal article, 2017

How is the sharing economy framed and who are the main actors driving current developments? Drawing upon Social Media Analytics (SMA) for the purpose of institutional analysis, we track the formation of the sharing economy in Sweden, its actors and their impact. Our findings reveal that the sharing economy in Sweden currently encompasses a wide variety of both non-market and market practices. Discussions concern commercial exchanges and the role of profit driven firms such as Uber and Airbnb and the emergence of a market logic has created a state of instability. Our results point at several unresolved issues such as taxation and regulation. Based on these findings, we also suggest an expanded definition of the sharing economy which incorporates both market and non-market logics.