Institutional orders in the sharing economy : Community as an answer to the state-market-interlock

• As the emergence of sharing economy firms changes existing institutional structures and bring forth increasing institutional complexity for firms, regulators and users alike, this paper aims to analyze how the public adhere to institutional orders in resolving emerging controversies associated with the sharing economy. By analyzing four cases of societal controversies concerning the accommodation sharing platform Airbnb in the Swedish market during 12 months between the years 2015-2016, we illustrate the ways in which the public adhered to three main institutional orders of state, market and community in resolving four identified controversies related to prostitution, racism, failure to pay taxes and housing shortage allegedly caused by the firm. In perspective to the ways in which extant literature emphasize state and market as fundamental institutional orders for resolving institutional complexity, our results highlights the role of community as a key institutional order situated in the intersection between the state and the market in the setting of the sharing economy.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)