Purpose
This paper aims to focus on online hospitality platforms in the collaborative consumption environment. In particular, this paper investigates the impact of trust on the obtainers’ intentions to “inquire about accommodations” and to “request a booking” on Airbnb.com.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes the perspective of a potential renter, respectively, obtainer and adopts Gefen’s (2000) research model, which incorporates familiarity and trust in the e-commerce industry. In this regard, the paper extends the work on two-sided markets of Mittendorf (2016-2017). To verify the modified research model, a survey was conducted, gathering results from over 426 participants of which 255 valid responses from the Millennials generation were obtained. This paper uses covariance-based structural equation modeling to analyze both measurement and structural relationships regarding the interaction framework.
Findings
The results show empirical evidence that both “trust in the intermediary” and “trust in providers” are decisive for the obtainers’ intentions on the online platform. In this regard, this paper advances the understanding of the collaborative consumption mechanisms by adapting trust literature to validate the obtainers’ intentions on contemporary collaborative consumption platforms.
Research limitations/implications
While the unit of analysis of prior research comprises the general intention to share, this paper empirically validates a more deliberate decision of user intentions by focusing on the intention to inquire about accommodations (no registration necessary) and the intention to request a booking (registration necessary). However, this study is dependent on one setting and it is still unclear whether the results are generalizable to other collaborative consumption setups.
Originality/value
This paper is in line with the work of Mittendorf (2016-2017), thus, it uses a sophisticated statistical approach to analyze trust in the collaborative consumption environment, such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
The sharing economy is a defining feature of the millennial generation. We report on a study of 1047 millennials and find that trust has more of an impact on their willingness to engage in some sharing encounters than in others. In particular, trust matters more in high-dimensionality sharing encounters-those encounters that have a longer duration, require a greater financial investment, involve more social interaction, etc. Further, it is important to note that all sharing encounters take place through two-sided intermediary platforms, and we find that the role of trust among the different types of sharing partners is not symmetrical across the two sides. Trust in the intermediary platform matters more to customers than to service providers in their willingness to engage in service encounters. Overall, this research contributes to existing literature by developing the notion of a service encounter and associated dimensionality and by demonstrating that service encounter dimensionality affects the importance of trust in the sharing economy. Also, we show how trust matters differently for different sides of two-sided sharing platforms. Finally, this research focuses squarely on understanding the behaviours of millennialsthe generation important to the sharing economy.
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