Abstract
TSR promises the transformation of the service experience for all the involved stakeholders; taking into account the wellbeing and the interests of the service provider, the service user and the wider service community. While TSR logic can appear to contradict with the profit maximisation logic, TSR aims to improve the quality of life of the involved service community; which should, on the long term, be reflected on the sustainability of that service community. With the growing interest in the TSR, the question that seems pressing is to what extent one can find implications of TSR evident in the challenging practice. This paper takes this question to the evolving area of the sharing economy services in the context of developing countries.
Sharing economy service models have three main actors; the platform providing firm, the peer service provider, and the service user. These service models offer several benefits to the involved service actors including financial, psychological, and social benefits. While the word “sharing” implies some equivalence among the service actors, several questions arise when linking the TSR to the sharing economy services. First, does the participation in the sharing economy service models result in the creation of some vulnerable service actors? If so, how do these vulnerable actors respond in relation to their vulnerabilities; passively or actively? Second, how can their response affect the sustainability of these sharing economy services? We aim to answer these questions in the ride-sharing services in the context of a developing country. Developing countries are characterized by several voids and therefore the vulnerabilities of the service actors are expected to be more apparent compared to a developed country context.
We undertake a qualitative research approach by interviewing 75 ridesharing drivers and then, we conduct a content analysis of their largest Facebook groups. Our results suggest that while the peer-service providers gain financial benefits from participating in the sharing economy services, their benefit comes with a high price both psychologically and physically (such as personal or property safety). Yet, these peer service providers do not remain passive toward their vulnerabilities as suggested in the TSR literature in case of vulnerable users. They take an active role by engaging in different coping and offsetting strategies and educate other peers about these strategies via their online community. Such strategies are, in many cases, detrimental to the sustainability of the sharing economy service as it lowers its quality and hence its value.