Sharing economy in peripheral regions

Sharing economy is a phenomenon that has emerged as a result of increased digitalization and the emergence of digital platforms.

"Digital platforms create a new and radical form of economic organisation which has potential to challenge existing industries and practices, but also to create new opportunities for regions and industries," writes Blekastad Sagheim to inn.no.

Kristine has completed her PhD research in the PhD programme Innovation in Services in the Public and Private Sectors (INSEPP).

But what is sharing economy, really? One definition is that sharing economy is an economic model where mainly private individuals offer, change, rent and exchange services or assets in interaction with each other, preferably via digital platforms and intermediary actors.

The purpose of Kristine Blekstad Sagheim's thesis is to inform the literature of economic geography 

"By studying the sharing economy as an empirical phenomenon, I aim to increase my understanding about the role digital platforms have for new path development in peripheral regions," she says.

Theoretically, the thesis is positioned in the literature on economic geography, including evolutionary economic geography, regional innovation systems and new path development.

Empirically, this is researched within the tourism industry in peripheral regions of Innlandet County in Norway, where the sharing economy is treated as an exogenous impulse.

• Read the thesis here: "Sharing economy in peripheral regions: A study of how discursive, material and institutional factors can influence the spread of the sharing economy, and what significance the sharing economy may have for future business development in peripheral regions".

The main findings of the PhD

• Discursive factors can influence the development of the sharing economy; The social process of dialogue between actors influence the way the sharing economy is portrayed and described among actors within the regional innovation system. 
• Material factors can influence the development of sharing economy in peripheral regions. Material factors, such as digital infrastructure, grid, and internet connection, must be present.
• Delegitimization can inhibit the development of the sharing economy.
• The thesis also discusses what role the sharing economy can have in new path development in peripheral regions, depending on whether inhibiting or promoting factors are dominating. A dominance of inhibiting factors means that the SE only has potential to create incremental changes in the region and in the tourism industry, and hence, create a path extension type of development. Conversely, a dominance of promoting factors can lead to an increased development of the sharing economy, and different kinds of new path development in the tourism industry.

Here you can find more information about Kristine Blekastad Sagheim public defence on 9 February 2024.

Contact information:

Kristine Blekastad Sagheim

Mobile phone: 986 55 945