Reciprocity and social exchange in the sharing economy

This study pursued two objectives: (1) it comprehensively investigated the role of the factors facilitating social exchange, reciprocity expectation and social value in use behaviour, and (2) it examined the effect of the sharing economy on social inclusion and subjective well-being. The data were collected from 487 users of different sharing economy platforms in the United States. Structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the correlation of the examined variables. The results demonstrated the positive effect of egoistic belief, reciprocity norm, social value, and the negative effect of identification on the use of the sharing economy. In addition, strong relationships between use behaviour and outcomes were identified. Future research suggestions are provided