A Different Kind of Sharing Economy: A Literature Review of Platform Cooperatives

Summary

This literature review on platform cooperatives recognizes their potential as fairer alternatives to platform capitalism that create value for their members and society. Guided by cooperative principles to practice values such as democracy, openness, and social responsibility, platform cooperatives create social benefits such as fair worker conditions, transparency, data ownership for users, and equitable value distribution, especially when they leverage digital platform technology and other innovative digital technologies such as blockchain. This is in contrast to the negative effects of platform capitalism such as worker exploitation, surveillance capitalism, and discrimination. The literature review concludes by recognizing the need for more research that focuses on platform cooperatives themselves rather than the larger sharing economy.