Study on the field of the sharing economy
In their exploratory study on the field of the sharing economy, the ifm researchers found that sharing organisations receive legitimacy and resources from a “disruptive field” of organisations (e.g. tech media, venture capitalists) that initiate and strengthen technological innovations and thus disrupt existing industries and fields. So far, this field has paid particular attention to dominant sharing organisations (e.g. Airbnb, Uber). The authors publish the chapter in the renowned series “Research in the Sociology of Organisations”.
Dominika Wruk, Tino Schöllhorn and Achim Oberg analyse the field of the sharing economy in their explorative study. Analysing relational structures and discourses in fields is important in order to understand the current status and possible developments of the sharing economy. For this reason, two field concepts are used as starting points for the study: The organisational field and the thematic field. In order to grasp both field concepts empirically and to determine how sharing organisations position themselves in the discourse and which relationships exist in the field, the authors collect relational data and data from the self-presentations of organisations. The network of organisations observed shows that the sharing economy is a thematic field. The authors see structures of an organisational field at the core of the thematic field. Surprisingly, it is not an organisational field of the sharing economy. Instead, it is a field of organisations that drive the emergence of new organisational forms and thus promote change in existing fields and industries. The authors thus observe a new field configuration, which they refer to as a “disruptive field”. This field is less inward-looking than other fields and much more focussed on changing structures and dynamics in other fields.
During the dotcom bubble, it supported internet start-ups; then it popularised Web 2.0 platforms; and now it is legitimising and strengthening start-ups in the sharing economy. So far, special attention has been paid to dominant models such as Airbnb or Uber. With these findings, the authors contribute to neo-institutionalist research on field constellations and to a better understanding of the sharing economy phenomenon and possible developments.
Publication
Wruk, D., Schöllhorn, T., & Oberg, A. (2020). Is the Sharing Economy a Field? How a Disruptive Field Nurtures Sharing Economy Organisations. In I. Maurer, J. Mair, & A. Oberg, Theorizing the Sharing Economy: Variety and Trajectories of New Forms of Organizing (pp. 131–162).
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