The dark side of the sharing economy: A systematic literature review of externalities and their regulation

• Main Authors: MOHAMED, Mosaad, BENOIT, Sabine, JAYAWARDHENA, Chanaka
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Externalities; Government regulation; Self-regulation; Sharing economy; SLR; Stakeholders; Marketing; Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7589; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8588/viewcontent/1_s2.0_S0148296323005453_pvoa_cc_by.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

As the sharing economy has grown, externalities, i.e., “dark sides,” have also surfaced. The intricacies surrounding these externalities and their regulatory measures have garnered significant scholarly interest; however, there remains a lack of comprehensive guidance on the appropriate regulatory approaches. Based on a systematic literature review of 99 papers, we provide an overview of two regulatory approaches (government and self-regulation) to address the sharing economy's economic, social, and environmental externalities affecting multiple stakeholders. We show that government regulation entails mechanisms based on avoiding, limiting, and guiding, while self-regulation entails mechanisms related to market entry, operation, and monitoring. We develop an externalities-based regulatory framework to suggest how these two approaches and recommended regulatory mechanisms could address each externality. Furthermore, we use our regulatory framework as a base to suggest a future research agenda and to discuss managerial implications.