In policy debates about the design of digital platforms, privacy has long been an issue of central importance. Understanding the antecedents and elements of privacy is particularly important in the context of sharing economy platforms that may manage highly sensitive information. This chapter proposes a comprehensive framework for addressing privacy concerns arising on sharing economy platforms. Our framework is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on information exchange and aims to classify all possible information exchanges that take place on sharing economy platforms. In the second part, we examine how platform users may use privacy calculus to make decisions about which information exchanges (i.e., accepted information exchanges) they wish to participate in. We conclude by highlighting the role of information transparency and privacy literacy and suggesting directions for future research.

The current sharing economy suffers from system-wide deficiencies even as it produces distinctive benefits and advantages for some participants. The first generation of sharing markets has left us to question: Will there be any workers in the sharing economy? Can we know enough about these technologies to regulate them? Is there any way to avoid the monopolization of assets, information, and wealth? Using convergent, transdisciplinary perspectives, this volume examines the challenge of reengineering a sharing economy that is more equitable, democratic, sustainable, and just. The volume enhances the reader’s capacity for integrating applicable findings and theories in business, law and social science into ethical engineering design and practice. At the same time, the book helps explain how technological innovations in the sharing economy create value for different stakeholders and how they impact society at large. Reengineering the Sharing Economy is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This chapter provides an overview of five core dimensions that are central to the challenge of optimizing for a just sharing economy: Understanding socioeconomic externalities; pursuing resilience; charting more just and systems-oriented business directions; defining the future of work; and prioritizing access and equity. It highlights the multiple ways in which the analyses throughout the book intersect with these dimensions and argues that each of these dimensions conveys significant information about the values that must be prioritized in the next generation of sharing economy platforms. Finally, the chapter discusses a set of key questions that remain for future research and exploration.