Understanding the influence of a host’s guest perceptions on sharing intention on the airbnb platform: A signaling theory perspective

Abstract

Today the sharing economy, involving the online sharing of under-utilized assets with unknown others, has increasingly become a prevalent e-commerce business model. While numerous studies have explored determinants of a guest’s booking intention in the sharing economy, little attention has been given to what drives a host to accept a booking request from a guest. A host endeavors to gather and assess information about a guest to decide whether to accept a request, and ultimately, a host's perceptions of a guest are likely to impact their willingness to share accommodation online. This study investigates the impact of a host's perceptions of guests on their intention to share an unused property with an unknown guest. It aims to present and test a conceptual model of accommodation sharing by examining the effects of a guest profile and guest reviews on a host's trust in a guest and, subsequently, on a host's intention to share accommodation based on signaling theory. This research collected data from 270 Airbnb users, aged 20 to 70, using an online survey on Amazon MTurk. The results indicated that a host's trust in a guest was positively affected by perceived guest favorability from guest reviews and perceived credibility from guest profiles. However, the perceived fit between a host’s guest preferences and the portrayed guest identity did not have a significant effect on trust. Furthermore, it was found that trust in a guest had a positive relationship with sharing intent but a negative relationship with perceived risk. Based on the results, this study offers practical as well as academic implications and suggests directions for future research.