Multiple versions of markets? Exploring market reconfigurations in shared mobility

Abstract

By combining research on ambiguity and constructivist market studies with a case study of shared mobility in Sweden, I develop the argument that ambiguous concepts contribute significantly to constitute multiple versions of markets, in this case car sharing, ride hailing and scooter sharing. Specifically, the practices employed during market formations affect who becomes involved and direct our attention to the practical challenges associated with building parallel market infrastructures. The resulting multiplicity of conceptions, market definitions and instantiations of rules and regulations produces diverging efforts at legitimizing respective market versions. While actors borrow traits from adjacent markets to shape specific versions, the multiplicity of conceptions, boundary-definitions, instantiations, and uses of market devices are employed in ways to avoid performation struggles.