Revealing patterns in household product consumption and sharing: An approach to support urban governance towards a sustainable sharing economy
Journal article, 2024

To accomplish the sustainability potential of the sharing economy (SE), there is a need for proactive governance of the SE. In this paper, we aim to generate knowledge on household product consumption and sharing to support SE governance in Gothenburg City (Sweden). Data from two independent cross-sectional questionnaire surveys were statistically analyzed, which generated insights within 7 product groups covering household durables; and within 20 demographic categories regarding gender, age, dwelling type, education level, family composition, and income. Results were in accordance with the well-known attitude-behavior gaps regarding sustainable practices, though variance was seen for these gaps depending on the product and demographic group considered. The study suggests that, for 2021, clothes were consumed in high amounts (units/year) but there was relatively low interest and participation in sharing them, while the opposite was seen for tools and leisure items. As for demographic groups, men were less likely than women to reduce their consumption through participating in sharing, contrary to respondents with higher education. Governance reflections are included for the highlighted cases, such as investigating the reasons why men are less interested in the SE and in reducing their consumption; and exploring hinders to achieving a critical mass of users and providers in clothes sharing.

Urban governance

Sharing Economy

Dematerialization

Survey methodology

Sustainable household consumption

Resource use

Author

Divia Jimenez Encarnacion

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Technology

Erica Ann Metheney

University of Gothenburg

Liane Thuvander

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Architectural theory and methods

Yuliya Kalmykova

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Water Environment Technology

Leonardo Rosado

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Technology

Sustainable Production and Consumption

2352-5509 (eISSN)

Vol. 45 244-264

SEsam: Sharing Economy sustainability assessment method to support the implementation of sharing economy initiatives.

Kamprad Family Foundation (Ref.nr20200167), 2020-05-02 -- 2023-04-28.

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Environmental Engineering

Economics and Business

Political Science

DOI

10.1016/j.spc.2024.01.009

More information

Latest update

2/5/2024 3