Building customer patronage in app-based sharing economy firms: insights from Indian consumers

This study adapts retail patronage theory to app-based sharing economy (SE) platforms. It develops a framework explaining customer patronage behavior in digitally mediated service contexts. While prior research has examined individual drivers of platform use, a comprehensive patronage-based perspective remains underdeveloped. Drawing on four focus groups with Indian sharing-economy users, we identify key antecedents shaping patronage decisions. The antecedents are classified into four categories: socioeconomic, personal, platform-related and marketing-related factors. The framework replaces traditional product and store-based drivers with platform-centric attributes unique to SE environments. Findings show that initial patronage decisions follow a sequential process in which consumers evaluate the platform before the service provider, whereas continued patronage reflects trade-offs among competing attributes. By replacing traditional product- and store-based drivers with platform-centric determinants, the study refines patronage theory for digital service environments and offers actionable insights for customer-focused platform design.