Sharing Economy and Big Data Analytics

1The Sharing Economy: A Concept Under Construction

What cannot be eschew’d must be embraced.

William Shakespeare

The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, Scene 5

1.1. Introduction

For more than 20 years, society’s behavior has changed in terms of daily consumption.

In the interest of economic rationality, people, without knowing each other or being part of the same family, agree to live together, travel in the same vehicle, work in the same space and participate in common projects. They decide to join forces in activities such as production, distribution and consumption.

In other words, they have a new approach to economics, which involves collaboration and a spirit of sharing: it is commonly referred to as “the collaborative economy” or “the sharing economy”.

A question challenges us: why did this concept appear?

Several factors have contributed to the advent of the sharing economy: the development of IT tools and mobile technology (smartphones, tablets), the globalization of the economy, the global economic crises and the environmental watch fueled by ecological awareness of the negative externalities of economic activity.

Indeed, we are witnessing a deterioration in the efficiency of the resources used. Demailly and Novel (2014) agree with this idea, arguing that: “For those in the sharing economy, it is nothing more or less than an underutilization of material goods, capital, and therefore an economic and environmental waste.”

We cannot consider the theme of sharing as recent, ...