Collaborative consumption participation intentions: A cross-cultural study of Indian and U.S. consumers

ABSTRACT Worldwide, the emergence and growth of collaborative consumption (CC) based companies increasingly offer consumers new consumption opportunities and experiences. Given the importance of culture in shaping consumers’ behavior, to advance knowledge on similarities and differences in CC engagement, this research examines select motivating factors as antecedents to CC participation intention (CCPI) in the U.S. and India. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyze consumer panel data to investigate the relationships between resource motivation, risk-propensity, trust, generosity, materialism and attitude as antecedents to consumers’ CCPI. Results indicate that in both countries, risk-propensity has a positive impact on materialism, trust is positively related to materialism and attitude, while generosity is negatively related to materialism and attitude. Individual country differences, and theoretical and practical implications are discussed.