Séminaire transversalSOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN THE SHARING ECONOMY

Le 19 juin 2017

Dr. Pia A. Albinsson, Appalachian State University, Department of Marketing

Le papier est co-écrit avec B. Yasanthi Perera (Brock University, Canada).

Résumé

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN THE SHARING ECONOMY

Social enterprises, both for-profit and non-profit, exist to create social value. In recent years, the Sharing Economy and collaborative consumption have become a part of the mainstream vernacular and experience to the point that some corporations, such as Avis, have ventured into this territory. This research examines organizations that fall within both these realms: minimal fee-based, non-profit clothing libraries developed primarily to address over-consumption and subsequent disposition of textiles in Sweden. Besides raising awareness, the clothing libraries encourage consumers to rethink the notion of ownership. Using qualitative methodologies including in-depth interviews, this research presents the issues encountered by the social entrepreneurs in developing clothing libraries. The core findings include the necessity for clarity regarding values, and the importance of effectively integrating social value creation with the basics of developing sustainable organizations (e.g. financial management, and marketing strategies). We provide recommendations for developing Sharing Economy based social enterprises and, using the clothing libraries as a springboard, we examine implications of the findings for collaborative consumption, and non-ownership, at a broad level.