Extraversion, Technology Proclivity, and Participation in Technology-Mediated, Sharing Economy Markets: An Abstract

Abstract

Beyond the archetypical Airbnb and Uber brands, thousands of sharing economy platforms now operate globally. In these two-sided markets, governing algorithms bring together participants as consumers and as service providers across many business sectors. These platform’s success relies on attracting a critical mass of participants on both sides of the market. Hence, alongside the emergence of the sharing economy is a growing body of research investigating the predictors of participation in the sharing economy. This study investigates whether an individual’s disposition toward others and toward technology affect participation in these markets. Sharing economy markets exhibit a high level of consociality, defined as human interaction that is either physical or virtual or both (Perren & Kozinets, 2018), so we assess the role that an individual’s natural propensity to engage with others—their degree of extraversion—plays on participation in the sharing economy. Sharing economy platforms leverage technological intermediation, so we examine the role that an individual’s technology proclivity plays in participation in the sharing economy. We define technology proclivity as an individual’s level of optimism about technology and the perceived proficiency with technology (Parasuraman, 2000; Ratchford & Barnhart, 2012). Further, we examine the relationship between extraversion and technology proclivity. Extraverts are generally described as more optimistic (Marshall et al., 1992; Williams, 1992), and optimists are more generally confident in their coping ability in novel and challenging settings (Scholz et al., 2002), including those that involve technology use. We augment Davis’s (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM) to test whether and how extraversion and technology proclivity affect the likelihood of participating as a consumer or as a service provider in two sharing economy applications: ride sharing and in-home gig services. A structural equation model was tested using data from an online survey of 292 individuals. The findings reveal that extraverts have higher technology proclivity and that extraversion is directly related to the intention to use sharing economy applications. Additionally, extraversion is related indirectly to likelihood to use these technologies and to engage as a provider of such services, through technology proclivity and through the technology’s perceived usefulness. Extraversion thus emerges as an important personality antecedent of participation in the sharing economy.

As the world returns to normalcy, following the unprecedented global crisis and social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, continued expansion of the sharing economy offers the potential to foster a more collaborative society. A novel finding in our study is the role of extraversion as an antecedent of technology proclivity. Extraverts appear to hold more optimistic beliefs about technology and greater desire to engage with technology.