Are consumers loyal to home-sharing services?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effects of host attributes and travelers’ frequency of past stays and their interaction on the likelihood of repeat purchase of home-sharing services at both the host and listing levels.Design/methodology/approachA combination of econometrics analyses using a large-scale, granular online observational data set collected from a home-sharing platform was performed.FindingsTravelers exhibit salient loyalty to home-sharing services. At the host level, host attributes including acceptance rate and listing capacity positively affect travelers’ likelihood of repeat purchase; such effects diminish as travelers’ frequency of past stays with a host/listing increases. At the listing level, confirmation efficiency and acceptance rate are critical, and travelers’ frequency of past stays matters.Research limitations/implicationsResponding to the call for more research on customer loyalty of sharing economy, this study instantiated on a home-sharing website in China and adds a unique perspective to the research domain, but its findings may not be generalized in other settings.Practical implicationsThis study identifies the factors affecting customers’ repeat purchase behaviors at both the host and listing levels, allowing the hosts, webmasters of home-sharing websites and even hoteliers to advance specific tactics to promote repeat purchase among travelers.Originality/valueLoyalty was measured with real-time internet-enabled observational data about travelers’ actual repeat purchase behavior on a home-sharing website, rather than assessing consumers’ behavioral intentions through the conventional survey method. Two specific levels of customer loyalty were analyzed, including the ones towards a service provider (host) and a service product (listing).