This document is a master's thesis that examines the motivations for participating in commercial and non-commercial collaborative consumption services. It analyzes survey data from Airbnb (commercial) and CouchSurfing (non-commercial) users to identify differences in motivations. The study finds that commercial services are motivated by utilitarian factors like economic benefits, while non-commercial services are driven by hedonic motivations like social interaction and experiences. Additionally, ideological motivations and a desire for human connection better predict intentions for non-commercial services over novelty seeking. The thesis provides empirical evidence supporting the theoretical differentiation between commercial and non-commercial collaborative consumption proposed by Belk (2014).

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Consumer motivations to participate in
commercial and non-commercial
Collaborative Consumption: a comparative study
A case study of Airbnb and CouchSurfing.
Paradiso, Giuliano.
Master’s Thesis- Leeds University Business School. 2015
Abstract
Collaborative Consumption (CC) is a rising global phenomenon. Recently, Belk (2014)
provided a theoretical definition of CC excluding sharing services not including
compensations from its theoretical domain. The aim of this study was to find empirical
evidence to this definition by reviewing extant literature; elaborating and testing a conceptual
model; and ultimately, comparatively analysing the motivational factors driving CC services
including compensations (commercial) and the non-compensated CC services (non-
commercial). This study employs survey data (N=403) gathered from people with previous
knowledge about the two services, i.e. Airbnb (n= 200), as an example of commercial CC,
and CouchSurfing (n=203), as an example of non-commercial CC. Data were analysed by
multivariate statistical tests. Multivariate analysis showed that while commercial CC is
driven by utilitarian motivations, i.e. expected economic benefit and social utility; non-
commercial CC is related with hedonic motivations, i.e. social presence and experience
orientation, and the ideological anti-industry utility. Moreover, rather than by novelty,
people’s participation in non-commercial CC is driven by its intense social experience and
the presence of a sense of human touch. We conclude that Belk’s (2014) theoretical
differentiation between these two forms of CC is based on different fundamental and
objective characteristics.
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5.2 Conclusions
Firstly, the research findings clarify the key motives influencing consumer attitude and behavioural
intention to take part in CC.
It can be concluded that that the antecedents of the attitude towards general CC are represented
by people’s hedonic motivations, e.g. enjoyment, social presence and experience orientation. On
the other hand the behavioural intention towards CC resulted to be positively influenced firstly by
the attitude towards it, and then by two hedonic motivations, e.g. enjoyment and experience
orientation, and the ideological motivation “anti-industry utility”.
In contrast with the utilitarian perspective advanced by latest research in the field (Hamari et al.,
2015; Lamberton and Rose, 2012; Sacks, 2011; Möhlmann, 2015; Moeller and Wittkowski, 2010;
Lamberton and Rose, 2012; Bardhi and Eckhard, 2012) this study provides an image of the
potential user of CC as someone seeking for an enriched experience able to include at the same
time the sense of sociality lost in the commodity-exchange paradigm and the high level of
entertainment and enjoyment proper of this new form of experiential consumption (Schmitt, 1999)
Nevertheless, the sense of personalness, warmth and sociality of the service, namely, its degree of
social presence, (Gefen and Straub, 2004) represents a key predictor just in regards of the attitude
towards CC. In contrast with Moeller and Wittkowski (2010) indeed, this study has found the
behavioural intention towards CC to be strongly correlated just with the emotional satisfaction
derived from the activity itself, i.e. the enjoyment (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982), and with
people’s experience orientation.
However, such result does not confirm Hamary et al’s (2015) suggestion that “people might take
part in CC simply because it is fun”, since, in contrast with Lamberton and Rose (2012), the
behavioural intention towards CC has resulted to be also predicted by the ideological desire to
deny support to the traditional commodity-exchange market, represented, in the case of Aribnb and
CouchSurfing, by the Hotels’ industry.
The second aim of this study consists in the identification of possible differences in the motivational
drivers of CC services including a form of compensation, i.e. Airbnb, and CC services which do not
include any form of compensation, namely, CouchSurfing. As hypothesised, and in accordance to
Belk (2014), these two different typologies of CC resulted to be driven by radically different
motivational factors.
Concerning the attitude towards Airbnb, the utilitarian motivations represented the only significant
drivers emerged from the research. In particular, the social utility represents a significant predictor
of the attitude towards Airbnb, demonstrating that, in contrast with Hamari et al (2015), the

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expected approval by reference group and the development of reputation inside the community
represent a key social aspect of market-mediated forms of CC (Wasko & Faraj, 2005). On the
other hand, the expected economic benefit, along with the attitude, was found to positively
influence the behavioural intention towards the market-mediated CC service. Oppositely,
concerning CouchSurfing, the two hedonic motivations, i.e. social presence and experience
orientation, exert a positive influence on the attitude towards the non-commercial CC service,
whereas the behavioural intention towards it was found to be predicted by the attitude, the
experience orientation and the anti-industry utility.
Although the importance of the economic benefit for the intention to join CC had been already
pointed out by Bardhi and Eckhardt (2012), Hamari et al (2015) and Möhlmann (2015), this study
has shown for the first time that it represents a critical predictor of the intention to take part in CC
only when the service considered involves a form of compensation.
On the other hand, concerning non-commercial CC, as highlighted by Belk (2010) for the gift-
giving, paradoxically, when the service allows guests to save the highest costs, no importance is
given to such “economic benefit”. In contrast with Lamberton and Rose (2012) and to the findings
concerning Airbnb, people who show a positive attitude and behavioural intention towards
CouchSurfing are essentially driven by the sense of personalness, warmth, sociality and human
touch of the service, namely, its high degree of social presence (Gefen and Straub,2004) and by
their desire to live an entertaining and enriched experience as hosts or guests.
Moreover, the psychological gains derived from denying support of the traditional hotel industry
represents a significant predictor of the behavioural intention just in the case of “non-commercial”
services like CouchSurfing. Apart from the particular disruptive power against the hotel industry
shown so far by the peer-to-peer accommodation market (Scanlon et al.,2014), the reason of such
result can be found in the fact that, in accordance to Belk (2014), these services are conceptually
closer to the traditional sharing and gift-giving paradigm (Belk, 2014). Hence, their use could be
generally seen as a drastic choice against the traditional hotel market.
Moreover, concerning the novelty seeking predisposition, it was found to have a significant inverse
moderating effect on the relationship between hedonic motivations and the attitude towards non-
commercial CC.
Hence, the stronger is people’s predisposition towards novelty and experimentations, the lower the
importance of the entertaining, enjoying and social nature of CouchSurfing on their attitude towards
it. Such unexpected result, in contrast with what hypothesised on the base of previous literature
(Zuckerman, 1979; Wohlwill, 1984), indicates that it is not correct to interpret the desire for social
presence and enjoyment of CouchSurfing users as simple desire for novelty and willingness to

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face social risk for the sake of the experience. This result confirms the exclusion of non-
commercial sharing services from the CC domain, since it suggests their association with forms of
traditional “sharing-in”, defined by Belk as “an inclusive act that is likely to make the recipient a part
of a pseudo-family” (Belk, 2014.p.159)
Therefore, this study has identified for the first time in the literature on CC that, more than novelty,
when no compensation is involved, what leads people to share with strangers is the unique
intensity, warmth and personalness of this experience which, differently from ordinary services
based on the commodity-exchange paradigm, present a sense of human touch. In fact, findings
present non-commercial CC as phenomenon similar the traditional practice of “sharing-in”, defined
by Belk as “an inclusive act that is likely to make the recipient a part of a pseudo-family” (Belk,
2014.p.159)