European Perspectives on Privacy in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

The present report ‘Privacy in the Sharing Economy: European Perspectives’, covers the Privacy part of Ps2share: a European Horizon 2020 Research Project focusing on the sharing economy. Within this document, we present the results of a widespread European survey (N=6111), covering both users and non-users of sharing economy services. The first section of the report provides an overview of the privacy perceptions of users VS non-users of the sharing economy, highlighting important country differences. In the following chapters, we explore in more depth how providers within the platforms (such as Airbnb hosts, or Uber drivers) as well as consumers perceive their privacy, both online and when it comes to face-to-face interaction. In the last section, we explore impression management as a tool to control information disclosure, and the risks sharing economy users perceive from third-party reviews and comments.

Keywords: Privacy, Sharing Economy, Impression Management, Peer Privacy, Institutional Privacy, Attachment, Reviews