The Sharing Economy As An Alternative Model Of Consumption And Market Sector Development

The sharing economy constitutes an important complement to the mainstream economy by introducing a socially responsible segment of business activity based on access rather than ownership, cooperation, and trust. It responds not only to economic challenges during periods of crisis but also to changing consumer attitudes oriented toward sustainable development, reduced overconsumption, and improved quality of life. The growing popularity of sharing economy platforms in Poland indicates dynamic development of consumption based on access to goods and services, particularly in transport and accommodation markets, despite persistent barriers related to limited public trust.

The paper aims to analyze the development of the sharing economy as a response to market imperfections such as information asymmetry, transaction costs, and externalities, with particular emphasis on the role of digital intermediaries. Based on a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science and BazEkon databases between 2015 and 2024, the study demonstrates a rapid growth of scientific interest in the sharing economy, accompanied by increasing thematic specialization and conceptual diversity. The analysis identifies the key mechanisms through which sharing economy platforms reduce selected market imperfections, especially in P2P markets, while also highlighting areas where such imperfections persist, notably negative externalities.

The empirical part of the study focuses on the accommodation market in Poland, using alternative data sources to estimate market concentration and scale in the absence of reliable official statistics. The results indicate a high level of market concentration characteristic of an oligopolistic structure, strong spatial concentration in large cities, and significant differences between the sharing economy and traditional hotel markets in terms of supply structure. The findings confirm that the sharing economy is a rapidly developing yet still insufficiently measured phenomenon, offering numerous directions for further research, including contemporary nomadism and zero-waste consumption models.