Using sentiment analysis to explore the degree of risk in sharing economy

Abstract

Sharing economy is the new business model of ecommerce that stimulates new thinking in different ways. However, security and privacy are the most criticized problems in sharing economy. The owners on sharing economy need to build trust through online reviews. It may take risks when most people make decisions by reading less reviews. This research considers the emotions of comments in online reviews and discover the positivenegative sentiment ratio based on sentiment analysis. The sentiment ratio will match to the level of risk and customers refer to it for suitable decision making. The results show that the selected rankings were different between the base of sentiment-ratio or the stars of accommodations. In addition, customers of different generations may have different decisions when showing pictures, room information, and the sentiment-ratio of online reviews. Generation Z and generation Y may pay more attention to reviews, cost, and cleanliness. Generation X may pay attention to cleanliness, reviews, and total stars. In conclusion, three generations all show the importance of online reviews on decision-making. On the other hand, the high risk people are more likely to be affected by the negative reviews; that is. they may make different decisions.