Sharing economy: Comparing users’ service quality perceptions in accommodation and transport on the case of Croatia

Abstract

This paper focuses on the two most prevalent and economically significant services of the sharing economy: accommodation and transport. Its primary objective is to compare these two crucial sectors in terms of user perspective and their perceived service quality. Given that these platforms operate similarly, this study aims to determine if there are unique aspects that require different approaches or areas that need to be improved. This is crucial for making these platforms function better and provide a better experience for users. The quality of service was analysed through technical and social categories. The goal was to determine whether and how the aforementioned service quality categories affect user behaviour and whether there are differences in the ranking of service quality categories from the users’ perspective, depending on the individual sector of the sharing economy. On a sample of 327 respondents, SEM analysis was used to show that the technical and social categories of service quality positively and directly influence the behavioural intentions of users in the sharing economy in both the accommodation and transport sectors. The findings also revealed that, for the users of the sharing economy service in the accommodation sector, the social category of service quality is more important than the technical category, while for the users of the sharing economy services in the transport sector, the technical category of service quality is more important than the social one.

Keywords

• user perspective
• sharing economy
• service quality
• accommodation
• transport