Stress and coping among micro-entrepreneurs of peer-to-peer accommodation

Abstract

Micro-entrepreneurs (hosts) of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation are receiving an increasing amount of research attention; meanwhile little is known about their health and well-being. To maintain their well-being, this study aims to explore their stress and coping strategies after the outbreak of COVID-19. A qualitative approach was undertaken, and data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 21 hosts. Qualitative content analysis was applied to analyse the data. The findings revealed four stressors that caused the hosts’ stress: economic stressors, uncertainty, operation-related stressors and social stressors. They used 12 different strategies to cope with their stress, which were further grouped into problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping strategies. This study suggests that micro-entrepreneurs of P2P accommodation use multiple coping strategies to deal with a stressful situation in naturalistic settings. Coping strategies were discussed regarding their helpfulness for hosts to maintain wellbeing by comparing the findings with psychology literature. • Economic stressors and uncertainty were the two main causes of hosts’ stress. • Most hosts used more than one coping strategies throughout the stressful encounter. • This study supports the two-dimensional view of coping strategies. • Helpfulness of coping strategies was discussed.