Academic Resource Sharing platforms: Undergraduate business school students' perspectives on file sharing, value exchange, and community

Academic Resource Sharing (ARS) platforms invite students to upload and download course materials. Most research has examined them through the lens of academic integrity, rarely investigating what students do with them and why. I conducted a convergent mixed methods study with a qualitative priority at the business school of a Canadian university, combining a descriptive survey with semi-structured interviews. Students used the platforms substitutively, primarily for practice examinations and worked solutions, and their usage decreased where instructors provided practice material. Payment was avoided almost universally. None could describe a clear institutional policy; those that exist govern copyright, not pedagogy. Into that gap they brought a consistent ethic: practice material is fair, the live assessment is not. No participant formed relationships through the platforms; the personal, reciprocal sharing happened elsewhere. The opportunity is one of learning support, a need currently filled by ARS platforms and, increasingly, generative AI.