The Impact of Resource Providers' Visual Cues on Renters' Trust and Behavioral Intentions in a Sharing Economy Platform - The Case of Airbnb

Autor: LAI, CHANG-YOU, 賴長佑
Rok vydání: 2019
Druh dokumentu: 學位論文 ; thesis
Popis: 107
The emergence and rapid growth of sharing economy has become a huge threat to many traditional service industries. Since barriers to entry are being lowered by the sharing economy platform, the competition among the resource providers in the sharing economy is extremely fierce. Therefore, how can a resource provider stand out in a crowd on sharing economy platform becomes an important research topic. However, little empirical research has been done into the factors affecting renters’ behavioral intentions. Since we want to fulfill some research gap, this paper is based on the theory of uncertainty reduction and the beauty premium. We take the perspective of resource renters (travelers) to investigate the effects of the visual cues (personal photos) provided by resource providers (hosts). Our study reveals that how visual cues (self-disclosure, attraction, gender) affect the traveler’s booking intention through trust, perceived risk, and perceived social benefit to the host. In a controlled experiment, we found that a traveler’s booking intention is affected by their trust, perceived risk, and perceived social benefit to the host. The more visual self-disclosure shown in the host’s photos, the more trust and perceived social benefit can be gained by the traveler and perceives less risk. Therefore, the more beneficial it becomes for the host. Also, comparing to less attractive hosts, the more attractive ones are more likely to succeed in renting their homes. Amongst the less attractive photos, ones with more self-disclosure are more likely to gain trust from travelers. Lastly, between a photo of a man and a photo of a woman, the photo of a woman has a higher chance to gain trust from the traveler.
Databáze: Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations
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