Ifi researcher Johannes Gartner who is doing research on sharing economy was interviewed by the Austrian newspaper “Salzburger Nachrichten” on the boom of sharing economy. Johannes in the interview explains three main reasons why sharing economy is growing also for e.g. electronic devices and furniture: First he identifies a financial motivation – the providers are looking for new markets and the clients may afford such objects even though they are probably not liquid enough to buy them. Secondly sharing economy implies flexibility which in general is of growing importance. And the third motivation for sharing rather than buying is sustainability.
A link to the article you can find here