Abstract:

The sharing economy is revolutionizing traditional business today in almost all countries all over the world. Sharing is not new, but with the new technologies and globalization, the rise of this economic phenomenon gives consumers and businesses unlimited and unbounded opportunities, which may potentially generate economic value and foster growth. Recently, this trend of exchange has been the subject of considerable interest in Lebanon. The aim of our paper is to study the scope and challenges of the sharing economy as perceived by the Lebanese users. We focus on the factors affecting the intention of the Lebanese to participate to the collaborative consumption. Our study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze survey data from a sample randomly chosen (n=673). Our results provide evidence that economic benefit, heavy reliance on new technology, community belonging, safety and trust and user protection are important criteria for the adoption of the sharing economy in Lebanon.