Investor preferences between the sharing economy and incumbent firms

• Published in: Journal of business research Vol. 116; pp. 37 - 47
• Main Authors: de Lange, Deborah, Valliere, Dave
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.08.2020
• Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Investment; Sharing economy; Stakeholder theory; Sustainable development; Value capture; Value capture; Stakeholder theory; Sustainable development; Entrepreneurship; Sharing economy; Investment
• ISSN: 0148-2963; 1873-7978
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.007

•The competing interests of stakeholder theory are apparent in the sharing economy.•Investors affect sustainable development via selection of investment targets.•Distributed value capture in the sharing economy initially inhibits investor interest.•Larger sharing economy firms with market reach are more attractive to investors.•Diverse business models support sustainable development and need policy support. Stakeholder theory has called for more research on competing interests. This research contributes by investigating investor preferences that affect the competing positions of incumbents and sharing-economy firms. The sharing economy promises wider distribution of benefits across stakeholders, which may influence investor attractiveness. So this research asks when sharing-economy firms are competitive for investor support in comparison with incumbents. Value creation and value capture are employed to develop hypotheses predicting investor interests. Using data from a matched sample of 334 firms, we find evidence of conditional investor preference for non-sharing firms, and conclude implications for the sharing economy and sustainable development.