Rathnayake, I; Ochoa, J J; Gu, N; Rameezdeen, R; Statsenko, L and Sandhu, S (2024) Building the future: Fostering circularity through the new dawn of sharing economy practices in the construction industry. In: Thomson, C (ed.) Proceedings of 40th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2024, London South Bank University, UK.
Abstract
The sharing economy (SE) concept emerges as a transformative shift in resource utilisation, offering a promising path towards a more circular future. The SE is an economic system where individuals or organisations share underutilised resources using digital platforms. Despite increasing interest in this concept, limited studies focus on SE practices in the construction industry (CI). This research provides the first insights into the potential shareable resources in the CI through a systematic literature review (SLR) and a website analysis on digital platforms. Results revealed a notable lack of research on the SE within the CI compared to other industries. Potential shareable resources were categorised into 14 types. Among them, 'equipment/tools/machines/devices' sharing was highly practised in the CI, alongside 'space/storage', 'energy', and 'human resource' sharing. The Business-to-Consumer (B2C) model emerged as the prominent business approach. The research underscored deficiencies in construction-related SE digital platforms, namely, 'service coverage', 'information availability', and 'language support' and highlighted the need for a user-friendly and feature-rich platform to facilitate SE practices in the CI.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | circular economy; platforms; resources; sharing economy |
| Index terms: | platform, human resource, resource utilization, systematic literature review, construction industry, circularity, circular economy |
| Subjects: | digital design, sustainable materials, management, site logistics, industry analysis, research evaluation and metrics, sustainable design |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Research Practice, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here