Kazakh Sharing Practices: A Critical Inquiry Into Sharing Economy Models From the Vantage of Ownership in Collective Societies

Abstract

The sharing economy (SE) is often promoted as a sustainable and inclusive model for resource provision, increasingly so for base-of-pyramid (BoP) contexts. However, dominant SE frameworks ground in individualistic and commodified understandings of ownership may misalign with values in collectivist societies. This article presents a case study from rural Kazakhstan to examine how ownership is conceptualized and enacted through Kazakh linguistic and cultural traditions that draw from the physical steppe ecology. Our findings reveal a relational understanding of ownership that privileges shared access and social obligation over individual control or exclusion. These principles generate forms of social value that extend beyond efficiency and economic utility. By highlighting how sharing practices are shaped by embedded ownership norms, this study challenges the universal applicability of mainstream SE models. It calls for greater attention to culturally situated ownership understanding in order to develop SE strategies that are ethically grounded and contextually responsive to BoP settings.