Factors inhibiting the use of sharing economy services in Japan

Abstract The growth of sharing economy services has been led by technological development, an awareness of reducing ecological impacts, and change in attitudes toward product ownership and the demands for social networks. Research on the motivations of the sharing economy help facilitate a better understanding of users’ decision-making processes. However, despite this recent interest, there are limited quantitative studies investigating why only few people use sharing economy services in countries such as Japan. This study investigated factors inhibiting the use of sharing economy services in Japan. We compared five models of such services, considering variables such as income and savings. Results show that females tend to not use space-, goods-, money-, or mobility-sharing services, and higher-income people use mobility-, skills (time)-, and goods-sharing services. Overall, an important factor inhibiting the use of such services was “resistance and anxiety about sharing with strangers.” Space-sharing services are presumed to contribute the most to the efficient use of resources, even though people believe that such services contribute to the efficient use of both time and resources. Furthermore, people are interested in the sharing economy and social contribution. For practical implications, service providers should eliminate resistance and anxiety by facilitating connections among users who are unfamiliar with each other in local or online communities.