CouchSurfing: Belonging and trust in a globally cooperative online social network

Abstract

The current study investigates engagement activities in an online resource exchange community exploring elements such as sense of belonging, connectedness, and trust. CouchSurfing.com is an online cultural exchange community in which members from around the globe coordinate travel accommodations and organize gatherings with fellow members via a social media platform. Findings confirmed that members who have not met face-to-face with other members have a lower sense of belonging to the community than those who have. Increased attendance to gatherings was positively related to sense of belonging to the community, and hosting had a positive relationship with trust in the community. Additionally, CouchSurfers reported that they preferred to be contacted through personal e-mails rather then group e-mails, while those who reported an increased participation in gatherings found group e-mails to be useful.

Market escape through exchange: home swap as a form of non-commercial hospitality

“…Nevertheless, online relationships involve risk and uncertainty; predominately the risk of giving benefit to another without receiving something valued or expected in return (Rosen, Lafontaine and Hendrickson, 2011). While in negotiated direct exchange the main risk may be that of failing to reach an agreement, since jointly reached agreements are binding on the actors, in home swaps the object of exchange is not present during the exchange process, and as a result it cannot be mutually valued.…”

“…Sometimes people may swap their second home rather than their primary one, in which case there is greater flexibility and more chances for personal conduct, since there is no need the stays to be concurrent and as a result no need for owners to leave their house. Since the whole concept of home swap relies on building a relationship of mutual trust and goodwill (Rosen, Lafontaine and Hendrickson, 2011), the bonds resulting from home swap may last beyond the duration of the initial transaction. Humphrey and Hugh-Jones (1992) acknowledge the importance of the social relations involved in such exchanges.…”

“…Moving to the contemporary world, the most researched form of non-commercial hospitality is couch surfing which has been explored from various perspectives such as hospitality exchange networks (Leung, 2010;Molz, 2012;Pultar, Raubal and Goulias, 2012), authenticity (Priskin and Sprakel, 2008;Steylaerts and Dubhghaill, 2012); trust (Rosen, Lafontaine and Hendrickson, 2011;Tan, 2010), information disclosure (Peterson and Siek, 2009), as well as, on the way that couch surfing is practiced in non-western societies (Chen 2012). On the other hand, a few authors (see for example Kotůlek, 2011;McIntosh and Bonnemann, 2006;McIntosh and Campbell, 2001) have explored negotiated exchange by undertaking research on Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and in more detail, willing workers' volunteer offer of manual labour in exchange for food and accommodation, as well as, decommodified experiences in a living organic farm.…”

Insights into New Media Use by International Students: Implications for Cross-Cultural Adaptation Theory

“…For example, Couchsurfing is a social networking site for travelers in which participants meet online for the purpose of facilitating offline interaction [73], whereas Facebook is generally used to maintain already established FtF relationships.…”

Tourism communities and social ties: the role of online and offline tourist social networks in building social capital and sustainable practice

“…More recently attention has turned to virtual tourist communities where research strands have explored interest based communities, such as couch surfing (see, for example, Rosen, Lafontaine, & Hendrickson, 2011) and sharing of knowledge and tourism experiences through social media (Munar & Jacobsen, 2014). Aside from this, tourists and the physical contexts in which they come together have received little analysis from a community perspective, presumably because the tourism setting is considered too fleeting to constitute community in a meaningful sense.…”