Resumo

One of the gaps in the studies on marketing and information systems is to understand how assemblage the relationships happen between consumers, service providers, and digital platforms. Specifically, in sharing economy field an issue that still needs explanation is associated with how these relationships occur between the various and different actors involved in this movement. Given the inherent complexity of this context, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) presents with theory and/or research methodology adequate to better understand this assemblage relationship.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand how this process and relationship building and structured by the parliament of things, a hybrid of humans and nonhumans, who together build facts, values, and actions. On this perspective disclosed the following question: How do happen assemblage of relationships between consumers and providers (humans) when mediated by digital platforms (nonhumans) in sharing economy? To answers this question this study aims to analyze how an assemblage of relationships of exchanges happen between consumers and service providers when mediated by digital platforms in SE

In order to better understand these sets of relationships between actor-network, the role of digital platforms in connecting, inducing, engaging, valuing and mediating these actions has been explored (Hamari, Sjöklinta and Ukkonen, 2016, Breidbach and Brodie, 2017; Sutherland and Jarrahi, 2018). For this based on a process of following the actors proposed by Latour (2012), and mediation and translation processes (elements originating from ANT) will be the main theoretical support for understanding the sharing economy phenomenon.

The research field was conducted from November 2018 to March 2019 through participant and non-participant observation, unstructured interviews and follow-ups of online communities. It was chosen a case study of Brazilian digital platform - “Rental Goalkeepers”, to understand the agency of nonhumans in the assemblage of the relationships of exchanges between consumers and service providers, from the perspective of actor-network theory. The methodological approach supports the description of the materiality existing in the practices and relations between these actors composed by this collective.

The case studied allowed us to identify a decentralized action and a hybrid relationship between human and non-human actors (Latour, 2012; Sutherland and Jarrahi, 2018) by analyzing observations, interviews, and mapping of online communities. This relationship is assembled collectively with the support of digital resources, online and offline communications, and uniforms, providing a unique experience with entertainment, sports practice, friendship relationships, and extra income. This assembly only takes place in ongoing practices, being constantly produced and negotiated by both actors.

The results indicate that a mediation assemblage process was noted which features, interfaces, design resources, communication, and data functionalities, and algorithms proposed and disseminated by this digital platform. This mediation happens through a hybrid flow with the consumption and production behaviors of the businesses, which are inserted in the SE context. Therefore, the ANT as a theoretical contribution presents the existence of a symmetrical and hybrid process between the human and nonhuman actors that is assembled and mediated by their relations.

Breidbach, C. F., Brodie, R. J. (2017). Engagement platforms in the sharing economy: conceptual foundations and research directions. Journal of Service Theory and Practice,27 Hamari, J., Sjöklint, M., Ukkonen, A. (2016). The sharing economy:Why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology,67 Latour, Bruno (2012). Reagregando o social. Salvador: Ed. ufba,Bauru.São Paulo. Sutherland, W.;Jarrahi, M. H. (2018).The sharing economy and digital platforms: a review and research agenda. International Journal of Information Management