Topics

List of research topics

Platforms2share brings together researchers from different disciplines, theoretical schools and applying diverse empirical approaches in their research on the platform economy. Below you find an overview of research topics. 

Organizational Forms and the field of the Platform Economy
Platform organizations for sharing, swapping and other ways of collaborative consumption are widely associated with positive economic, ecological and social effects, but existing organizational forms also face much criticism. What alternative organizational forms exist in the platform economy?
Legitimization and Diffusion of the Blockchain Technology
The Blockchain Technology might be an enabler of new business practices and could supersede the central mediator to create a real decentral Sharing Economy. However, the use of the Blockchain technology in real-life sharing organizations is currently rather scarce. Besides the technical complexity, its origin in a highly controversial domain as a means to organize criminal activities or as speculation objects might be a reason for its slow diffusion.
Ecological Impact
The promoted goal of the sharing economy is to intensify the use of products, to extend their life cycle and thus to provide evological advantages. To analyze whether this is acutally achieved, an impact assessment model for different organizational and business models of the sharing economy is developed and applied, thereby taking into account rebound effects.
Social & Economic Impact
By lowering transaction costs dramatically, digital platforms can enhance social and economic participation. Existing work and debates suggest that social and economic effects are different for different organizational forms. This idea is to be tested empirically.
Organizational Forms and the field of the Platform Economy
Ecological Impact
Legitimization and Diffusion of the Blockchain Technology
Social & Economic Impact