The Sharing Economy in Belgium - the commons as key differentiator

The author defines the sharing economy as an economic model built on distributed networks of people, and based on the voluntary sharing of services or assets in return for satisfactory benefits. In a literature review, an overview is provided on relevant material with regards to defining the sharing economy, where the various drivers and characteristics are explored. As part of this, the concept of the commons plays an important role, because it is considered a key differentiator between two types of sharing economy manifestations. Additionally, the potential is explored from three angles: sustainable development, social capital, and economic potential. This paper attempts to contribute to the academic discourse by seeking to answer two research questions, i.e. whether the evolution of the sharing economy in Belgium is in line with growing public interest, and what the perceived barriers for growth are for businesses and organisations which are active in the sharing economy in Belgium. A mixed methods approach is used with various qualitative methods (unstructured and semi-structured interviews, attendance to conferences) preceding and running in parallel with a quantitative part.