Understanding the Legitimacy Challenges for Sharing Economy Disruptors: A Topic Modeling Approach

The sharing economy has disrupted traditional business models (e.g. Airbnb, Uber in disrupting lodging and transport industries). To be successful, these disruptive start-ups seek legitimacy and sustainability in the incumbent market. However, challenges of legitimacy for disruptive start-ups are still unclear. Our study attempts to understand the new legitimacy formation by surfacing the underlying issues of contestation in a sharing economy disruption. Using topic modeling approach, we identify the legitimacy challenges surrounding Uber and Airbnb, two leading firms in sharing economy, from news published between 2008 and 2018.