The Rise of Collaborative Consumption in EU Member States: Exploring the Impact of Collaborative Economy Platforms on Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Consumption
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Literature Review
1.2. Problem Statement
- Examine how the collaborative economy is understood and applied in practice in EU member states;
- Analyze the main sectors of the collaborative economy and online platforms concerning European consumers’ consumption patterns;
- Identify the key aspects of the collaborative economy paradigm used to create the consumption model and purchasing behavior patterns.
2. Methods and Materials
2.1. Research Design
2.2. Sample
2.3. Statistical Processing
- The data are transformed to reflect the definition of the main sectors of the collaborative economy;
- An analytical method is used to collect data on the activities of online collaborative economy platforms and correlate them with the main sectors;
- The European consumer market, which includes the trade in goods and services through major online collaborative economy platforms, is visualized in terms of the main sectors using graphical data processing in Excel.
2.4. Ethical Issues
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Internet Purchases—Collaborative Economy (2020 Onwards) | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|
EU | 22.7 | 23.3 | 26.4 |
Belgium | 14.4 | 16.8 | 16.8 |
Bulgaria | 3.5 | 3.8 | 5.3 |
Czech | 24.7 | 24.3 | 25.5 |
Denmark | 24.1 | 25.2 | 22.7 |
Germany | 26.1 | 17.6 | 17.1 |
Estonia | 14.8 | 19.4 | 17.7 |
Ireland | 0.0 | 20.8 | 12.8 |
Greece | 8.3 | 6.4 | 12.6 |
Spain | 14.8 | 15.1 | 18.2 |
France | 0.0 | 27.0 | 26.4 |
Croatia | 12.5 | 9.3 | 8.1 |
Italy | 8.4 | 8.9 | 9.5 |
Cyprus | 7.2 | 13.7 | 9.9 |
Latvia | 9.6 | 11.7 | 8.2 |
Lithuania | 7.5 | 10.5 | 10.8 |
Luxembourg | 22.5 | 22.7 | 25.4 |
Hungary | 15.4 | 11.9 | 12.5 |
Malta | 17.2 | 22.8 | 24.1 |
Netherlands | 22.8 | 26.5 | 25.0 |
Austria | 10.1 | 9.0 | 8.5 |
Poland | 35.1 | 36.7 | 39.2 |
Portugal | 11.2 | 12.7 | 11.0 |
Romania | 6.7 | 7.3 | 8.3 |
Slovenia | 13.9 | 16.1 | 11.7 |
Slovakia | 11.0 | 22.1 | 20.5 |
Finland | 17.5 | 19.8 | 19.0 |
Sweden | 19.0 | 22.7 | 19.8 |
Norway | 21.3 | 27.8 | 26.0 |
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Items related to consumer behavior variables | Age group: | |||||
16–24 | 25–34 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55–74 | ||
26% | 35% | 33% | 24% | 14% | ||
Education: | ||||||
No or low formal education | Medium formal education | High formal education | ||||
15% | 23% | 34% | ||||
The economic status of buyers: | ||||||
Retired | Employees, entrepreneurs | Students | Unemployed | |||
14% | 29% | 26% | 20% | |||
Origins of internet consumers: | ||||||
Residents of other EU member states | Residents of a non-EU state | Local online shoppers | ||||
24% | 19% | 26% | ||||
Consumer behavior related to online shopping: | ||||||
Analyzing prices or products every time before purchasing/ordering online | Using customer reviews on websites or blogs every time before purchasing/ordering online | Using information from the websites of several sellers, manufacturers, and service providers before purchasing/ordering online | Rarely or never using information from websites of multiple sellers, manufacturers, and service providers before purchasing/ordering online | Online purchasing/ordering by clicking/purchasing immediately through the website or social media app advertizing | ||
49.5% | 22.3% | 14.9% | 9.0% | 4.3% | ||
Elements related to sustainable consumption | Sustainable consumption: | |||||
Resource utilization efficiency | Circular use of materials | Reducing global waste | ||||
2019–2021 −0.8 tons per capita (14.4–13.6) | 2019–2021 −0.3% (12.0%–11.7%) | 2019–2021 −0.4 kg per capita (5.2–4.8) | ||||
Transaction Payment (TP) = Collaborative Economy (CE) + Digital Platform (GP) |
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Gerlich, M. The Rise of Collaborative Consumption in EU Member States: Exploring the Impact of Collaborative Economy Platforms on Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Consumption. Sustainability 2023, 15, 15491. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115491
Gerlich M. The Rise of Collaborative Consumption in EU Member States: Exploring the Impact of Collaborative Economy Platforms on Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Consumption. Sustainability. 2023; 15(21):15491. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115491
Chicago/Turabian StyleGerlich, Michael. 2023. "The Rise of Collaborative Consumption in EU Member States: Exploring the Impact of Collaborative Economy Platforms on Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Consumption" Sustainability 15, no. 21: 15491. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115491