Exploring Dimensions of Sharing Economy Business Models Enabled by IS: An Australian Study

Abstract: Over the last decade, the Sharing Economy has developed rapidly to become a significant source of market disruption. However, multi-disciplinary research into the phenomenon is constrained by uncertainties about its focus, scope and even what activities the term “Sharing Economy” refers to. This paper’s research aims are to address those constraints by clarifying concepts and terminology to afford meaningful discourse and impactful research. We do this by developing a Sharing Economy Diagnostic (ShED) for categorising companies and organizations who participate in platform-based sharing that is enabled by Information Systems. Within the Australian Sharing Economy, Information Systems occupy the sweet spot, being located at the intersection of demand for different types of market behaviours and enabling those demands by bringing market groups together in ways that are facilitating and creating new business models.