Abstract
Value co-creation, in the sharing accommodation sector, has been extensively analyzed but mainly with Airbnb as a reference and focusing mostly on guests’ perceptions. The aim of this study is to analyze the value co-created for users (guests and hosts) in the non-profit sharing accommodation platforms Couchsurfing and HomeExchange. This study also aims to analyze whether the co-created value of these platforms differs from that of for-profit platforms, along with how the outcomes, resources, and practices of the value co-creation process can help create wellbeing for individuals involved in the accommodation experience. Given that most of the existing literature on value co-creation in sharing accommodation platforms is based on Airbnb and guest perspectives, this study is a pioneer in analyzing how guests and hosts co-create value in the context of non-profit accommodation platforms using online travel reviews (OTRs) from non-profit platforms, and how the co-created value contributes to the wellbeing of the individuals involved. Results show that a set of tangible and intangible resources, such as the home and its amenities, helps users on non-profit platforms co-create value and that interaction and social practices between guests and hosts help co-create value for both groups. This implies that non-profit accommodation platforms may contribute more to the social dimensions of wellbeing of their users than for-profit platforms such as Airbnb where the host is typically absent from the experience. In addition, this study demonstrates that the co-created value in non-profit platforms depends on the modus operandi of each platform. On Couchsurfing, guests and hosts co-create more value from their social practices, and on HomeExchange, value co-creation depends more on tangible and intangible resources.
Highlights
IntroductionTechnology has helped to create new business models, such as Uber, Blablacar, and Airbnb
Technology and digitalization deeply impact the way people interact with each other
The current study aims to investigate whether non-profit sharing accommodation platforms are helping to create a sense of community and pro-social values and contributing to the users’ individual wellbeing, given the host-guest interaction is habitual in this kind of platform
Summary
Technology has helped to create new business models, such as Uber, Blablacar, and Airbnb. Each of these models operates using technology and, as Barbu et al (2018) affirmed, the digital sharing economy has become important to society because it offers opportunities to generate revenue and increase social interaction that cannot otherwise be achieved (Barbu et al, 2018). Has attracted most of the attention of academics, and value co-creation is one of the subjects that has been the focus of their research (Camilleri and Neuhofer, 2017; Johnson and Neuhofer, 2017). Many studies have concluded that distinct value co-creation outcomes underlie certain resources and social practices (Camilleri and Neuhofer, 2017; Johnson and Neuhofer, 2017). Buhalis et al (2020) expanded on this, analyzing value co-creation and co-destruction and how the use of these platforms can affect the wellbeing of individuals and the community
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