Local Acts, Global Impacts? Examining the Pro-Social, Non-Reciprocal Nature of Freecyclers

Recent research has shed light on the sharing behavior of members of Freecycle.org, a pro-social, online community that facilitates exchange of goods with the goal of generalized reciprocity and the more global intent of promoting environmental responsibility. What started out as a group of friends in Tucson, AZ who used an online discussion board to advocate for and facilitate the “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” principle, quickly blossomed into a community of over 5 million members in over 85 countries. This presentation investigates how Freecyclers’ participation in this activity serves to increase community cohesion and personal and social sustainability goals.

Citation:

Zeynep Arsel and Susan Dobscha (2011) ,"Local Acts, Global Impacts? Examining the Pro-Social, Non-Reciprocal Nature of Freecyclers", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 7_8.