Antecedents and role of individual sociability on participation in mobile collaborative consumption
ISSN: 1066-2243
Article publication date: 4 April 2019
Issue publication date: 19 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate what may influence participation in mobile collaborative consumption (CC). In particular, the authors investigate the effects of individual sociability and psychological antecedents including enjoyment, social connection, altruistic motivation, reputation, trust and embarrassment on the participation intention in this emerging phenomenon, as well as their relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey approach was employed to validate the research model.
Findings
Hedonic factor, i.e. enjoyment, and social-related factors including altruistic motivation, reputation and embarrassment emerge as important antecedents of participation in mobile CC. On top of these factors, individual sociability plays an important role, by acting as a direct antecedent of the dependent variable, while also influencing their perceived greater altruistic motivation and reputation from participating in the CC. Yet, sociability has no significant effect on perceived enjoyment and embarrassment associated with the activity, suggesting that addressing these factors may encourage individuals with low sociability to participate.
Originality/value
This study taps into mobile technology to support CC in daily consumption activities, and highlights the factors that influence people’s participation in such activities. More importantly, the findings suggest that while it is more likely for individuals with high sociability to participate in this emerging form of social activities, for consumers with low sociability, addressing the enjoyment aspect and embarrassment issue of the activities may nonetheless promote their participation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
There is not any potential conflict of interest in this research. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 71522006, 71471044, 71501042 ), the Social Science Foundation of Beijing City (17XCC008), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in UIBE (CXTD10-06) and the Scientific Research Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (17DZ1101002).
Citation
Zhang, Y., Phang, C.W., Gu, R. and Zhang, C. (2019), "Antecedents and role of individual sociability on participation in mobile collaborative consumption", Internet Research, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 1064-1089. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-03-2018-0131
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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