Making dreams come true

The Dutch initiative Dream or Donate is an online platform that allows individuals to realize their dreams or ideas by crowdfunding. It brings together two groups of people; namely the dreamers who want to share an idea and the donors who can give money for its realization.[1] In that sense, Dream or Donate can be considered as a two-sided network. It this case, one group of users is entirely subsidized whereas the other group of users can be considered the ‘money side’. [2] The difference here with two-sided networks as described by Eisenmann, Parker, and Van Alstyne (2006) is that there is no tangible advantage for the donors to attract large groups of dreamers. It might be that donors experience glory from their donations, since the dreamers will get a notification of their donation. It works as follows: Continue reading Dream or Donate →

Peerby.com – Get to know your neighbors!

Imagine this. You are hosting a dinner party for all your friends and you have decided to cook the meal yourself. Since you have invited many people, you need the appropriate cooking gear to make this party a success. However, in case you are a student like me, it is not very likely that you own a cooking pan large enough to cook tomato soup for 20 people. The stores are closed, your parents are out of town, and none of your friends own a pan of the dimensions your feast requires.

Peerby.com offers a solution for people with exactly these kinds of problems. They established an alternative to the prevailing consumption patterns in which people use goods after which it is stored or thrown away by developing a platform on which people can request to borrow things from their neighbors. In this way Peerby hopes to realize objectives such as “connecting people with each other and encouraging collaborative consumption.” [i] In essence, collaborative consumption allows individuals to become active members of society and increase their social network.[ii] Peerby does this by offering a platform that introduces a new value-creating system, allowing customers to govern the flow of goods in their own consumption context. [iii]

A question remaining is why people are committed to the online community that Peerby creates. Previous literature on organizational commitment has shown that people can develop a connection to an online community that is based on obligation, affect, and/or need. Continue reading Peerby →