A bibliometric analysis deconstructing extant research on sharing economy business models

Abstract

Digitalization has become known as one of the biggest drivers of developments in society and has put pressure on companies to innovate their business models with emphasis on the opportunities provided by application of new digital technologies. Accordingly, there has been a major growth in business models focusing on resource exchange, referred to as sharing economy. Currently, there is also a growing interest among researchers into the phenomenon of sharing economy with an exponential growth in published research. However, to date the literature addressing the sharing economy appears complex and unstructured. The purpose of this study is to take stock of extant literature with a particular focus on distinguishing between elements of sharing economy business models across peer-to-peer (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). This study was conducted using a bibliometric method to map prior research in the field of sharing economy. Utilizing a broad structured search in the Web of Science database we identify the most relevant articles and synthesis its insight to suggest a framework distinguishing between core properties of P2P, B2C and B2B sharing economy business models. In addition to provide a better overview of existing literature, the framework provides a foundation upon which further research can be built. The framework can also serve practitioners with a better understanding of the phenomenon of sharing economy and thereby a better basis for making strategic decisions in relation to their business model innovations.