“Sustainability is a nice bonus” the role of sustainability in carsharing from a consumer perspective

Carsharing has been discussed as one of the most prominent examples of the sharing economy. The worldwide growth of services whereby consumers share access to cars rather than owning a car themselves could be a sustainable solution to environmental problems. However, first research indicates that consumers' environmental concerns play a minor role for using a carsharing compared to financial considerations. Moreover, prior research on B2C carsharing services may not be applicable to P2P services. The current research addresses this gap by investigating the role of sustainability in B2C and P2P carsharing from consumers' perspective. By applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods three studies show that consumers' image of carsharing is “greener” than owning a car and that environmental concerns play a role when consumers decide to use P2P service over B2C services. However, interviews with carsharing users indicate that the sustainable impact of carsharing is rather perceived as a positive side effect than a main argument for carsharing. This should be considered by policy makers and marketers when promoting carsharing because of sustainable benefits.