The differences between the motivatons of Airbnb and Couchsurfing users to engage in sharing economy: The case of Turkey

Sharing Economy in which Turkey has the highest rate of participation with a percentage of %9 out of the fifteen countries according to the findings of a research by IngBank in 2015, without a doubt, has been transforming the current economic system unprecedently. Even though "users' motivations to participate in sharing economy" has been a conspicuous topic for researchers, researches in this area have not been adequate enough to fill the void in the literature. The aim of this study is to reveal the differences between the motivations of Turkish Airbnb, which is a monetary sharing economy platform, and Couchsurfing, which is a nonmonetary sharing economy platform, users to engage in sharing economy. This study is believed to be important in that it not only contributes to filling the void in the literature but also reveals how the use of money as a means affects users' motivations to participate in sharing economy. In this context, a quantitative research with a 5-point Likert scale was carried out on a total number of 304 people, 140 of whom are Airbnb users, 164 of whom are Couchsurfing users. In the research, demographic information included the following; the role on the platform, age, gender, occupation, sector, daily internet usage, marital status, the number of experiences as a guest and/or a host, monthly income, level of education and home city and there were 13 subdimensions; anti-capitalism, enjoyment in sharing, product variety, sense of belonging, social experience, thriftiness, ubiquitous availability, environmentalism, sustainability, future forecast, comfort, personal space and certainty. The statistical significances between the demographic information of Airbnb and Couchsurfing users and motivation types were comparatively analysed as well as the differences in correlations within the motivation types for the users of the two platforms. The differences between the motivations of Airbnb and Couchsurfing users to engage in sharing economy were also revealed at the end of the research. KEYWORDS: Sharing Economy, Motivation, Airbnb, Couchsurfing, Sustainability