The Impact of Dynamic Two-Sided Platform Pricing on Fairness Perception in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

From an economic perspective, dynamic pricing seems to be the profit maximizing pricing strategy for consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sharing platforms because it allows balancing supply and demand over time. Based on distributive justice and equity theory we investigate how two characteristics of dynamic pricing, namely -˜fee changes over time’ and -˜fee differences across consumer groups’, influence fairness perception and intention to share of consumers. Using a laboratory experiment, we find that fee differences between lenders and borrowers is the dominant source of negative fairness perception, which in turn results in a lower intention to share, especially for the consumer group that is charged with a higher fee. Consequently, C2C sharing platforms have to be aware of this negative effect from fairness perception when they implement a dynamic two-sided platform pricing strategy to maximize profits.