Perceived Value in the Sharing Economy; The Role of Empathy, Citizenship Behaviour & Extra-Role Behaviour

Given the rapid development of social networks and advances in electronic devices, many businesses have emerged in the context of sharing economy.  Since the sharing economy is a peer-to-peer business model, ethical issues and creating value play a significant role. Most research on value creation in the sharing economy has not addressed how value is created for all actors in the sharing economy. This paper aims to examine all participants in the sharing economy to develop a value creation framework. This research also investigates the role of ethical concepts, including customer empathy, customer and service provider citizenship behaviour, and extra-role value behaviour in this framework.

The method includes a qualitative study with a grounded theory approach. The statistical population consists of three different stakeholders (managers, providers, and customers) in the tourism industry of Iran. This study employed purposive and theoretical sampling. The sample consists of 34 in-depth interviews. The data is analysed with a grounded theory approach using MAXQDA software.

The research findings lead to a value creation model in the sharing economy with respect to ethical issues such as customer empathy, citizenship behaviour, and extra-role behaviour considering all participants in the sharing economy.

Findings have helped to bridge the gaps in the theory. They have supported developing a theoretical framework for value creation concepts in sharing economy, including antecedents and consequences of perceived value. Findings also reveal that customer empathy and customer citizenship behaviour positively affects how customers and service providers perceived value.