Communities in the sharing economy

Communities in the sharing economy How offline meeting can stimulate online community engagement Student name: Nouschka van der Burg Student number: 416019 Supervisor: Dr. Mijke Slot Master Media Studies Media & Business Erasmus School of History, Culture, and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam Master Thesis June, 2015 Abstract Nowadays there are many online possibilities to borrow, swap, lend, and rent. Although sharing is as old as mankind, the internet provides a platform on which sharing can happen on a large scale and with greater ease. For sharing platforms, encouraging meaningful interactions and trust between members are important aspects and when platforms do not succeed in this, members are not willing to share. However, many sharing organizations are struggling with stimulating interactions and trust and therefore have difficulty with getting an engaged online community. This master thesis explores how offline meetings for suppliers and demanders, initiated by a sharing platform, can stimulate more online community engagement. The three main building blocks of this thesis are online community engagement, offline meetings and the relation offline meetings and the online community. Literature on these three elements already indicates offline meetings are still important in forming a more closely tightened community. By means of qualitative interviews among eleven members of four platforms, this thesis shows generalized norms and trust are encouraged by offline meetings and in this way stimulate online community engagement. Moreover, members also get more life contentment by visiting events, as their knowledge grows and they enjoy the social contact with like-minded members. By using the theory of social capital, generalized norms, trust, and life contentment were expected to play in stimulating online community engagement. In addition, this thesis found two other elements that also stimulate more online community engagement that were not present in the literature about this topic. These elements are trust in the organization and the relevance of the platform. After an event, these two concepts together with generalized norms, trust, and life contentment will create a boost for members to engage with the online and offline community again.