An empirical analysis of factors affecting sharing economy growth

Research background: There are widely recognized benefits of sharing economy for entrepreneurs and consumers. The European Commission emphasizes the importance of European countries being open to new opportunities that sharing economy brings. In order to promote the development of sharing economy, it is important to understand what factors contribute to its development. Purpose of the article: The presented paper aims to identify the main factors relevant for the growth of sharing economy and to determine whether there are factors which are more significant for the development of the sharing economy than others. Based on reviewed literature, the Authors compiled a set of indicators and employed them for research purposes. The selected indicators were assigned into four main groups: technological, political and regulatory environment, economic and social-cultural environment. Methods: The authors used two multicriteria methods (SAW and APH), which were applied to the set of indicators and modeled five different situations by attributing significance to the indicators. The Authors have applied this set of indicators for assessing the following selected countries:  Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the United Kingdom. The data covers the years 2011-2015. Findings & Value added: The results of the research show that technological readiness and social-cultural environment are significant for the development of sharing economy. For further research the Authors recommend the creation of a composite Sharing Economy Index (SHEI).