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Sharing instead of buying is regaining traction among today's consumers. This study aims at identifying segments of sharing consumers to unearth potentially viable clusters of a consumer behavior that is a market of growing economic relevance. By means of a qualitative study and a survey with a roughly representative sample of 1121 Swiss-German and German consumers, a set of trait-related, motivational, and perceived socioeconomic variables is identified that can be used to group individuals into segments that differ with regard to their approach to sharing. A cluster analysis based on these variables suggests four potential clusters of sharing consumers-sharing idealists, sharing opponents, sharing pragmatists, and sharing normatives. Two sets of testable propositions are derived that can guide further research in this domain and pave the way to a more targeted approach to the growing market of "sharing" businesses.

Der Nobelpreis fur Physiologie oder Medizin 2006 geht an die Molekularbiologen Andrew Fire (Stanford University, USA) und Craig Mello (University of Massachusetts, USA) fur die Entdeckung der RNA-Interferenz im Fadenwurm Caenorhabditis elegans. Durch diesen Mechanismus konnen Gene spezifisch ausgeschaltet werden.