COVID-19 impact on the sharing economy post-pandemic

Abstract

In December 2019, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified and within a month its outbreak was seen across the world, with more than 180 countries being affected. This outbreak resulted in lockdowns and some major precautionary steps to contain the pandemic in various countries. To analyse its effect on the sharing economy model, we will study the two major companies in ride-sharing business and hospitality business – Airbnb and Uber. The approach is to have a comparative study on how the shared economy services helped in the internet community, and its prospects post-pandemic. The study will use the discussions and analyses of interviews collected from various shared economy industrial experts and customers. The paper will also assess the importance of the institutional and government regulation framework to improve the sharing economy business model. The research paper also provides a detailed comparison of companies’ customer responses post-pandemic on the basis of a few parameters, and the frequency of usage of these services.