From Ownership to Access: Resistance Towards Shared Consumption

Abstract

Shared consumption has emerged as an alternative consumption paradigm. Nevertheless, many sharing platforms struggle to generate adequate demand. Despite the rapidly growing literature on shared consumption, the focus has been on its adoption, reflecting a pro-innovation bias. There exists an evident gap: an oversight of consumers' resistance to this alternative consumption model. This study aims to address this gap by examining the barriers that impede the adoption of shared consumption. The proposed conceptual model integrates innovation resistance theory and status quo bias theory to empirically validate the intertwined role of active and passive resistance components and, thus, provides a more nuanced understanding of shared consumption resistance. Responses from 417 participants were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling, revealing that complexity barriers, non-monetary costs of sharing, perceived financial loss, status quo bias, and negative identity risk significantly contribute to shared consumption resistance. Moreover, it also highlights the role of status quo bias contributing to upward bias to active resistance components and the relationships of negative identity risk with possession-self link and status consumption. While the insights derived from this study can be leveraged for strategic interventions to mitigate resistance and foster greater acceptance of shared consumption, few future research avenues have also been highlighted.