Trust in sharing encounters among millennials

Abstract

The sharing economy is a defining feature of the millennial generation. We report on a study of 1047 millennials and find that trust has more of an impact on their willingness to engage in some sharing encounters than in others. In particular, trust matters more in high‐dimensionality sharing encounters—those encounters that have a longer duration, require a greater financial investment, involve more social interaction, etc. Further, it is important to note that all sharing encounters take place through two‐sided intermediary platforms, and we find that the role of trust among the different types of sharing partners is not symmetrical across the two sides. Trust in the intermediary platform matters more to customers than to service providers in their willingness to engage in service encounters. Overall, this research contributes to existing literature by developing the notion of a service encounter and associated dimensionality and by demonstrating that service encounter dimensionality affects the importance of trust in the sharing economy. Also, we show how trust matters differently for different sides of two‐sided sharing platforms. Finally, this research focuses squarely on understanding the behaviours of millennials—the generation important to the sharing economy.