P2P service exchange
I'm conducting research on collaborative consumption practices and online platforms. The recent growth of shared mobility services, such as ridesharing and peer-to-peer (P2P) car rentals, is a fascinating phenomenon to investigate.Advances in information and communications technologies (ICT) have enabled people to get what they need from each other on-demand rather than from traditional businesses. In the new “sharing economy”, private individuals can connect to online platforms and share their slack resources such as time, skills, space, and goods through P2P exchange. This is allowing them to save costs or monetise underutilised possessions. Platform users get access to more resources at lower costs and in a more convenient way – closer, faster and on-demand.
In 2015, I conducted an ethnography on ridesharing. I was traveling 2500km by car with other passengers to understand in-depth what users of P2P platforms actually do. I am interested in the characteristics of the ridesharing actors and its community, as well as the the drivers of adoption and satisfaction, the resources exchanged, and what is valued in P2P interactions.
With that in mind, I designed quantitative surveys for online platform users to quantify relationships between the monetary incentive of collaborative consumption, the importance of eco-consciousness and the social aspects of a community.
Sustainability marketing
The point of origin for this research is a belief that the sustainability challenge will not be solved by greener technology alone. Changing consumer behaviour is the key, which is what some of my research focuses on.
One of my most interesting project was in the retailing context, where I designed eye tracking experiment. The study concludes that retailers can influence consumers’ eco-friendly shopping behaviour by (1) influencing their purchase intentions, (2) through displaying relevant information, (3) orienting them inside the store (i.e. signalling eco-friendly products with green price tags), (4) offering an eco-friendly product assortment, and (5) avoiding greenwashing practices (i.e. display of products with misleading packaging).
This video presents a marketing experiment using the eye tracking technology.
Eventually, I am interested in extending the concept of “Green Service” as a dematerialised alternative to owning goods. I see it as a more resource-efficient and more innovative way of thinking.
