A pathway to consumer forgiveness in the sharing economy: The role of relationship norms

Abstract

The emergence of peer-to-peer accommodations has revolutionized the hospitality industry. Yet, research on peer-to-peer service failures and consumer forgiveness remains scant. This paper shows that relationship type—whether communal ("Airbnb host") or exchange ("hotel")—influences consumer forgiveness in a post-recovery context. Across five studies, this research demonstrates how peer providers (focusing on communal norms) versus conventional providers (focusing on exchange norms) influence consumer forgiveness and their responses to service recovery efforts. Our findings indicate that focusing on social service recovery is particularly effective for Airbnb hosts. These findings have important implications for crafting effective service recovery strategies based on the type of accommodation provider-customer relationship. Finally, our findings can also help peer-to-peer and conventional hospitality providers alleviate consumers’ negative responses to service failures.