8th International Workshop on the Sharing Economy:
“Unveiling Sharing Economy – Looking Back & Looking Ahead”
22–23 May 2023
Vienna, Austria
Co-organized by University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna; Vienna University of Economics and Business; and Lund University.
Abstract deadline: 30 January 2023 extended: 20 February 2023
With the advent of the sharing economy came the hope that new forms of organization would emerge that offer a more sustainable alternative to the current modes of production and consumption. The peer-to-peer sharing of underutilized assets such as apartments, cars, clothes, tools or food are expected to prevent the overconsumption of limited resources, enable entrepreneurship among individuals and strengthen social ties. Indeed, in many sectors, sharing economy platforms have grown impressively. But have the expectations of the advocates of the sharing economy been fulfilled?
The 8th International Workshop on the Sharing Economy (IWSE) in Vienna, Austria, provides a forum for critical reflections on the developments in the past and an outlook on the future of the sharing economy. The 8th IWSE follows earlier workshops in Utrecht (2015), Paris (2016), Winchester (2016), Lund (2017), Mannheim (2018), Utrecht (2019) and Barcelona (2021).
We invite scholars of diverse disciplines to join us in re-examining and re-considering whether the principles and practices of the sharing economy present a viable path forward considering the grand challenges humanity is facing (e.g., the climate crises, the current and future pandemics, armed conflicts). The current challenges show us—in some cases quite drastically—the problems of the prevailing behaviors on an individual, organizational, institutional, and societal level in our industrialized world, which urgently need to be solved.
Contributions are welcomed addressing questions related to the sharing economy including, but not limited to:
– Do sharing economy examples meet the original hopes about sharing (i.e., social cohesion, cooperation, a more ethical alternative to the prevailing forms of organizing, sustainability etc.)?
– Which hopes about the sharing economy still prevail and what are the new expectations about the outlook of the sharing economy?
– What makes sharing economy organizations fail or hinders them from growing?
– How has the sharing economy contributed to resilience and societal good in crises (e.g., in response to the pandemic, helping victims of armed conflicts)?
– Will the new forms of organizing in the sharing economy complement or even substitute the prevailing models?
We welcome contributions from a number of perspectives including, but not limited to:
– sustainability and ecological economics
– organization, strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation
– regulatory, policy and governance
– sociological and critical management
– psychology, marketing, and consumer behavior
Various perspectives can be linked to these general questions and we would like to give some examples of possible research questions and directions that we consider to be central.
Deadlines
– submission of applications (800-w. abstracts): January 30th, 2023
– confirmation of presentations/group sessions: March 1st, 2023
Special Issue of Workshop Papers
We are planning to publish “Best Workshop Paper Proceedings” in a special issue and/or an edited volume.
More information
The full CFP is available on the conference website.
