Exploring Public Sector's Roles in Collaborative Consumption - A Research Agenda

Motivated by the growing significance of sharing economy within our society, we here discuss which role the public sector may have within collaborative consumption (CC). CC refers to a business model grounded on peer-to-peer based sharing of goods and services through community-based online services. While public sector to a large extent has transformed from formalised bureaucratic structures into more hybrid organisations, focusing on the co-creation between public and private stakeholders, public sector's role within the sharing economy is still in need for further investigation. We reflect on the need for studying how public sector could benefit from a more active role within CC for public service provision in the e-government area. Based on current literature on CC, we argue that the public sector can take on three main roles in CC: the customers, the service providers, and the platform providers. We further develop suggestions for a research agenda in this area and raise questions for a further discussion on the role of public sector within CC.