ICT-Driven Sharing Economy Services and Human Attitudes to Participation as Provider or Consumer

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) has an important position in the area of sharing economy because it mediates distance communication between people. The development of various sharing economy services is dependent on ICT acceptance in the society. The paper presents exploratory pre-research focused on the three selected aspects. The aim of the paper is to find out how age, education, and economic status affect human behaviour in ICT-based sharing economy services. Emphasis is placed on the role that anyone can play in sharing economy services - provider and consumer. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was carried out on a sample of Generation X and Y members from the Czech Republic (n=453). The results show that income does not affect the role played in a sharing economy environment. Younger people from Generation Y have a greater tendency to become consumers and older people from Generation X have a greater tendency to become providers. People with higher education are more inclined to use ICT-based services of sharing economy than people with lower education.