“This Could Be The Day I Die”: Unpacking Interpersonal and Systems Trust in a Local Sharing Economy Community

Abstract

The rapid development of the “sharing economy” enables the effective and efficient coordination, acquisition, distribution, and sharing of many kinds of different resources. Beyond the well-known sharing economy services such as Airbnb and Uber, an increasing number of local sharing initiatives have established online platforms and services to facilitate access to the shared resources within their local communities. With the automation and complexity of digital tools and platforms, and the specific challenges of online sharing communities, users’ trust and reliance become increasingly critical for successful use and adoption. In our qualitative study in collaboration with two industry partners (a local sharing community and a large infrastructure provider in Switzerland), we unpack various perspectives of interpersonal trust in the community and the systems trust of the supporting technologies. On this basis, we elicited a set of design opportunities for future platforms in the context of sharing economy.