The impact of information disclosure on consumer purchase behavior on sharing economy platform Airbnb

Abstract

Via the empirical evidences from Airbnb from eight major cities in U.S., we examine the role of information disclosure in influencing consumers' purchase behavior on this sharing economy platform. We analyze information disclosure from four aspects – namely, what information (i.e., information content), from where (i.e., information source), in what format (information presentation format), and how much (the quantity of information). We find all three information sources – providers, platform, and peer consumers – influence consumer purchase behavior. Regarding information posted by providers, we find a concave relationship between room information (i.e. the number of photos and the length of description) and consumer purchase behavior. However, no significant relationship between providers' self-description (texts and photos) and consumer purchase behavior is found. Regarding information posted by platform, both the recommendation from platform and provider verification information positively influence consumer purchase behavior. For provider-consumer interactions information, the providers' high response rate and fast response speed enhance consumer purchase behavior. However, providing connections to providers' social media profiles negatively influences consumers' purchasing behavior. Regarding the information from peer consumers, we find although consumers' overall ratings positively affect consumer purchase behavior, such influence diminishes when the ratings exceed certain thresholds. Our study provides implications for platform owners to optimize information presentation layout directly through the platform design or indirectly through the guidance to the providers' information disclosure to facilitate consumers’ information search and acquisition to reduce the perceived risk, enhance trust on providers and the platform, and thus enhance their purchase intention and behavior.