From Ownership to Sharing, Through Barter Communities. Motivations, Behaviors, and Value at Zerorelativo.com

Recent literature, as well as practice, highlights the growing importance assumed by new forms of access to consumption resources, such as renting, sharing, and swapping (Albinsson and Perera 2009, 2012; Bardhi and Eckhart 2012; Belk 2010). Free and upon payment systems grew and are integrating the consolidated buy and own approach: Zipcar, Airbnb, Couchsurfi ng, Bookcrossing. These forms differ from traditional market transactions in many respects (Humphreys and Giesler 2007). For example, consumers often access goods, services, and information without purchasing or possessing them. The development of the Internet made access based consumption systems viable and attractive. We are interested in these processes for two main reasons: fi rst of all, in given conditions, consumers are able to access free resources, while in other conditions they are asked to provide some form of compensation and/or to respect norms of reciprocity (Belk 2014a). Second, when accessing these resources the degree of appropriation is largely lower than the traditional buy and own approach. In given cases, consumers simply access resources, while in other cases they can get part time possess or control over these resources. From the theoretical point of view, the purpose of this chapter is that of reconsidering the role of barter in extant literature about consumer research from a marketbased mechanism to a form of collaborative consumption or sharing