Abstract

This study examines the role of gamification elements in engaging suppliers of sharing economy platforms in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. We expected that engaging business owners in CSR would improve the brand equity of these platforms by leveraging the business owners’ brand loyalty and brand association. The statistical population of the study is owners of Iranian accommodation who use sharing economy platforms. The size of the sample was 323 accommodation owners. The hypotheses of this study were tested using Smart PLS-3. The study confirmed all the research hypotheses and showed that engaging business owners in social responsibility activities using gamification elements on sharing economy platforms can lead to an increase in the brand equity of the sharing economy platforms. These results will reinforce the synergy between the platforms and their users by making both parties aware of it.

Introduction

The sharing economy (SE) is where customers and business owners (suppliers) are brought together by an online platform. It is a means by which individuals may leverage their assets, such as their cars, their property and, of course, their time so that these assets may be utilized more thoroughly. This increases the efficiency of society as a whole while either increasing the wealth of participating business owners, or increasing their work flexibility, or both (Kuhzady et al., 2021). Advocatesof the SE have often painted a picture of a utopia where business owners will be set free from the shackles of employment while their customers would be able to take advantage of the lower prices (Belk, 2007). Well known examples of SE platforms are Uber in the ride sharing (taxi substitute) field and Airbnb in the accommodation sharing (hotel substitute) field, though there are also imitators of these platforms which have different degrees of market presence in different parts of the world.

However, the vision presented by SE tends to place its emphasis on the freedom of individuals, whether customers or business owners, while ignoring the fact that one of the reasons for the lower costs and prices of the SE compared with traditional businesses is the lack of regulation designed to counteract some negative consequences. Criticisms of the SE approach (Kuhzady et al., 2021) have included negative social and environmental impacts (Ma et al., 2018), limited safety and security (Birinci et al., 2018) and lack of certainty caused by unknown parties (Hossain, 2020) that contradict the vision of SE platforms of being sustainable and socially responsible. Consumers demand social responsibility from SE platforms and therefore business owners must also adopt sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in their businesses (Mi and Coffman, 2019). Consequently, sustaining the SE requires the engagement of all stakeholders where platforms, consumers and business owners are stakeholders in making a sustainable and responsible SE.

Discussion and conclusion

The study examined the role of gamification elements in engaging accommodation owners in CSR activities and enhancing their experience on SE platforms and how it leads to enriching brand equity through mediating effects of accommodation owners’ satisfaction and trust that leads to brand loyalty and brand association.

ads to brand loyalty and brand association. The gamification elements have a significant effect on engaging accommodation owners in CSR activities on SE platforms based on selfdetermination theory. Analysis of the collected data showed that gamification can have a significant and strong effect on engaging accommodation owners in CSR activities on accommodation sharing platforms. This is consistent with previous research on the power of gamification. Researchers have shown that gamification can be used to transfer complex information and promote green behaviour among users (Souza et al., 2020). In this study, it was shown that gamification elements can be used, not only for customers, but also for the accommodation owners and can engage them in behaving sustainably and responsibly. Analysing the collected data indicates a significant effect of gamification elements on the experience of accommodation owners on SE platforms. This also is consistent with previous studies which indicate that gamification can activate hedonic emotions and ultimately enhance the user experience (Hsu and Chen, 2018). It was also concluded that this hedonic experience is not limited to customers but also includes the business owners.