When social intrusiveness depletes customer value: A balanced perspective on the agency of simultaneous sharers in a commercial sharing experience

A major pattern of non-ownership consumption is simultaneous sharing, whereby customers simultaneously share the same resource in either a virtual or physical setting. However, little research examines the actual value that consumers derive from such a group-based commercial experience. By integrating the literature on customer value and the psychology of autonomy, this study proposes a theoretical model of the simultaneous sharing experience that balances the benefits and social intrusiveness of sharer agency. Based on data that were collected from members of a collaborative platform dedicated to flat sharing and analyzed through structural equation modeling, social intrusiveness is found to be a pervasive phenomenon that strongly impairs customer satisfaction, whereas communal benefits, as reflected by enjoyment, companionship, informational guidance, and emotional support, enhance it. As a major antecedent of both communal benefits and intrusiveness, perceived homophily nourishes satisfaction, however, customer age may reduce the buffering influence of perceived homophily on intrusiveness, whereas an additional positive effect on communal benefits is associated with the sharer social integrative motive. We discuss the implications of this study for customer experience and commercial sharing consumption research.