Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (4): 944-951.DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.202304023

• Social, Personality & Organizational Psychology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sharing Economy and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Trust

Guo Zhen, Bei Yansha, Zhao Jinzhe, Jiao Liying, Xu Yan   

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875
  • Online:2023-07-20 Published:2023-08-14

共享经济对亲社会行为的影响:信任的中介作用*

郭震, 贝衍沙, 赵锦哲, 焦丽颖, 许燕**   

  1. 北京师范大学心理学部, 应用实验心理北京市重点实验室, 心理学国家级实验教学示范中心(北京师范大学), 北京,100875
  • 通讯作者: ** 许燕,E-mail: xuyan@bnu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    * 本研究得到国家社会科学基金重大项目(19ZDA363)和国家自然科学基金面上项目(31671160)的资助

Abstract: With the burgeoning development of information technology and the rapid spread of the mobile internet. The sharing economy, a new economic model, has increased dramatically and received great public attention. Sharing economy is a web of the market in which individuals mutualize access to products or services rather than having actual ownership. The sharing economy has profoundly influenced people's lifestyles. Previous research regarding sharing economy has predominately focused on the economic or legal field, yet limited attention has been devoted to exploring how sharing economy influences individuals' social behavior from the perspective of social psychology. The current study intended to investigate whether and how sharing economy would affect individuals' prosocial behavior.
Two studies were conducted to examine the relation between sharing economy and prosocial behavior and the mediating role of trust. In Study 1 (N = 160), we measured participants' attitudes to sharing economy, trust, prosocial behavior tendency, and other control variables in a questionnaire survey. The correlations between sharing economy, trust, and prosocial behavior were significant (ps < .001). Trust mediated the relationship between sharing economy and prosocial behavior (β = .17, 95%CI = [.08, .28]) while controlling for participants' age, gender, and objective socioeconomic status in the mediating model.
In Study 2 (N = 113), we manipulated participants' sharing economy using a behavioral recall paradigm. Participants were randomly assigned to sharing economy condition or the control condition. In the sharing economy condition, participants were asked to complete a recall task that wrote about a memorable experience of using a sharing economy product/service. In the control condition, we asked participants to recall an experience that they had engaged in online shopping. All participants were required to describe as much as they could about their feelings and the details of their experiences. Next, participants indicated their attitudes toward sharing economy, which was used as a manipulation check. Subsequently, we measured participants' trust, prosocial behavior tendency, and their decision in the adapted one-shot Dictator Game. Results showed that participants in sharing economy condition had a more positive attitude to sharing economy than those in the control condition (t(111) = 4.78, p < .001, d = .91). Moreover, participants in sharing economy condition reported higher level of trust (t (111) = 2.19, p < .05 , d = .41), exhibited more prosocial behavior tendency (t (111) = 4.34, p < .001, d = .82), and distributed more money in Dictator Game than those in control condition (t(111) = 2.03, p < .05, d =.39). Trust mediated the relationship between sharing economy and prosocial behavior tendency (β = .22, 95%CI = [.03, .43]) / the money distributed in Dictator Game (β = .10, 95%CI = [.01, .27]).
In general, evidence from two studies showed that both the attitude to sharing economy and the experience of sharing economy can promote people's prosocial behavior. Additionally, trust mediated the relation between sharing economy and prosocial behavior. The results provide new insights into how sharing economy influences people's social behavior by showing that sharing economy is associated with more adaptive social outcomes, in particular, more general trust and prosocial behavior. Moreover, the preliminary results of the current study suggest that sharing economy has the potential to increase inter personal interaction and benefit society.

Key words: prosocial behavior, sharing economy, trust, morality

摘要: 研究从共享经济的态度与实际体验两个层面出发,考察了共享经济与亲社会行为的关系,并探讨了信任的中介作用。研究1以160名成人为研究对象,通过问卷法考察了共享经济态度、信任和亲社会行为之间的关系。研究2以113名成人为研究对象,通过回忆启动范式操纵了个体的共享经济体验(vs. 网上购物体验)。研究结果一致表明,无论是共享经济态度还是实际体验,都显著正向预测个体的亲社会行为,并且信任在其中起中介作用。

关键词: 亲社会行为, 共享经济, 信任, 道德