The sharing economy provides short-term access to products without the risks associated with ownership. While extant research primarily examined it in the context of affluent consumer segments, the sharing economy may offer opportunities for consumers at the base of the economic pyramid, where ownership risks prevent access to products that could create societal benefits. Drawing from risk perception theory, we examine how access-based services, as an alternative to ownership, can mitigate perceived risk dimensions. An experimental study reveals that, in contrast to consumers with higher income, low-income consumers perceive access-based services to entail less financial risk, resulting in a greater inclination to access a good than to own it. In a second study, we explore these differences by comparing access with a risk mitigation strategy. We find that at the base of the pyramid, access is perceived to entail less financial risk than both ownership and ownership with a warranty. The results indicate the importance of the sharing economy for addressing the limited availability of resources for alleviating poverty. Based on our findings, we derive implications for consumers and service providers at the base of the pyramid, and discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic may be detrimental to the identified opportunities.

中文翻译：

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位于经济金字塔底部的共享经济：基于接入的服务如何帮助克服所有权风险

共享经济提供了对产品的短期访问，而没有与所有权相关的风险。虽然现有研究主要在富裕消费者群体的背景下对其进行了研究，但共享经济可能为处于经济金字塔底部的消费者提供机会，在那里所有权风险阻止获得可以创造社会效益的产品。借鉴风险感知理论，我们研究了基于访问的服务作为所有权的替代方案如何减轻感知的风险维度。一项实验性研究表明，与收入较高的消费者相比，低收入消费者认为基于可及性的服务带来的财务风险较小，因此更倾向于获得商品而不是拥有商品。在第二项研究中，我们通过比较访问与风险缓解策略来探索这些差异。我们发现，在金字塔的底部，与所有权和有担保的所有权相比，访问被认为带来的财务风险要小。结果表明，共享经济对于解决可用资源有限的问题对扶贫具有重要意义。根据我们的发现，我们推导出金字塔底部的消费者和服务提供商的影响，并讨论 COVID-19 大流行可能如何对已确定的机会有害。