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To regain overall well-being in the post-pandemic era, the priorities should not be only economic growth but also human physical and mental health. This study investigates how to incorporate the concept of well-being into the circular economy to facilitate the pursuit of individual/personal and social growth, and sustainable consumption. We begin with a systematic search of the literature on well-being and sustainable product–service systems, model the well-being components in peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing and reuse platforms, and propose design guidelines for platform development. According to our findings, (1) allocentric well-being components (such as gratitude, contribution, and altruism) serve as the antecedents of sharing behaviors, while egocentric components (such as pleasure and attachment) serve as the consequences, and (2) information sharing is crucial to initiating the flow of well-being perceptions and sustainable sharing and reuse behaviors. Based on the findings, we suggest a data-driven approach and active inference theory to facilitate related studies. This study sheds light on the potential to develop well-being within the circular economy and facilitate the sustainable working of the sharing and reuse ecosystem.
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This study aims to investigate how consumer's use of online food delivery (OFD) services is driven by its self-protective nature. Drawing on protection motivation theory, the unified theory of use and acceptance of technology, and diffusion of innovation theory, an integrated model was tested with 1,000 empirical data points to explain consumers' OFD use during the pandemic. Results confirmed the self-protective nature of OFD use by uncovering a significant positive effect of fear of COVID-19 on consumers' OFD ordering frequency. Perceived vulnerability contributed more strongly to an individual's fear of COVID-19 than perceived severity in dining activities. These findings theoretically expand the current understanding of OFD services and provide practical implications for OFD platforms, restaurateurs, and governments.
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Online meal delivery platforms (OMDPs), like UberEats, have received more attention since quarantine was established to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The research into antecedents of satisfaction and continuous usage intention for OMDPs, in general, is under researched. The current study compared the antecedents of satisfaction before quarantine to the antecedents during quarantine through the lens of Expectation-Confirmation Theory. Through multiple regression analyses, the researchers found that before quarantine, sharing economy ethos, price-value, food quality, ease of use and confirmation of beliefs had a significant impact on satisfaction while during quarantine, food quality, service speed, ease of use, and confirmation of beliefs were significant. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Sharing economy-based services are more prevalent in contemporary society, especially after the covid-19 pandemic. However, from the user's perspective, it is still unclear what factors define the success of sharing economy-based apps. To address this issue, we conducted a study using an integrated theoretical framework that incorporated cognitive load theory, social network theory, and theory of planned behavior. 448 samples were collected from three tourist destinations in India to test the model. The results showed that mobile app user interface, interaction, and social networking would positively impact user satisfaction with sharing economy-based apps. User satisfaction also leads to recommendation and continuance intention. The study findings have several implications and recommendations for future studies on sharing economy apps. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
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Purpose: Trust has emerged as a crucial research topic in the sharing economy. However, scholarship on trust in sharing accommodation remains limited. By using stakeholder theory, this study aims to provide a systematic framework for integrating trust among multiple stakeholders and identify potential knowledge gaps and future research directions for trust in sharing accommodation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors select papers using a combination of multiple keywords from EBSCOhost and Web of Science. The analysis includes 172 journal papers published between 2011 and 2021. The authors conduct a systematic review through thematic content analysis, and each paper is analyzed using manual coding. Findings: The analysis shows that key stakeholders for trust building in sharing accommodation include consumers, hosts, platforms, residents and governments, with most studies focusing on the consumer perspective. The study integrates various trust antecedents and outcomes from the above multistakeholder. Second, this study summarizes the most commonly used theories, and more diversified theories could be applied to future research. Third, this study finds that most studies use quantitative methods, and researchers should introduce more integrated methodologies such as machine learning on a large scale. Furthermore, the current research disciplinary paradigm should be extended to multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to promote innovation in trust research. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought both challenges and opportunities to industry as well as researchers, and more institutional rather than commercial perspectives need to be addressed. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to the trust and the sharing economy literature by providing a systematic framework for integrating trust from multistakeholder perspectives. The study also points out several future research directions by combining micro and macro multistakeholder perspectives, identifying more diversified theories and methodologies and specifying multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. Originality/value: The study advances knowledge by providing a systematic framework for integrating trust among multiple stakeholders and proposing future research directions for trust in sharing accommodation.
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Purpose: This study aims to explore how the local tour guides (LTGs) operate through the sharing economy platform. This study explores how LTGs have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions using self-efficacy and other resources to improve resilience and performance. This study also delineates the working mechanisms of peer-to-peer (P2P) platform-enabled, dynamic capability building processes, in the tourism sharing economy. Design/methodology/approach: This research adopted an interpretive approach to understand the focal phenomenon using two types of data. A total of 40 semi-structured interviews with LTGs and 26,478 online tourist reviews from tour guide service participants' before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were used. Findings: The findings of this study revealed that LTGs used sharing economy platforms to arrange flexible tour guide services. Resilience emerged through dynamic capability that addressed contextual factors in real time. LTGs coordinated different resources and customers during a time of uncertainty. Different sources of self-efficacy and types of dynamic capability were identified. The interplay between LTGs' self-efficacy and dynamic capability was also delineated. Practical implications: The findings provide guidance for LTGs on P2P platforms and other sharing economy sectors on how diverse resources enabled by the sharing economy can enhance resilience during times of uncertainty. LTGs that engage with contextual information and are dynamic can adopt itineraries and services that will benefit tourists and their business. Originality/value: This study contributes to the sharing economy literature by theorizing the working flow that enables LTGs to exert self-efficacy and leverage dynamic capability on P2P platforms. This study also contributes by linking resilience to contextual factors in real time. The outcomes provide guidance for LTGs to remain competitive and establish resilience in uncertain environments.
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Purpose: This study aims to explore the influence of different types of cleanliness information provided on the Airbnb platform (hosts' sanitation labels, Airbnb cleaning protocol and previous guests' reviews) on guests' trust and behavioral intentions. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses an online scenario-based experimental design. A two-step approach was applied to discover the proposed relationships by assessing the measurement model fit and validity of the constructs with confirmatory factor analysis and testing study hypotheses with structural equation modeling. Findings: The results demonstrate that three types of cleanliness information (i.e. provided by Airbnb's hosts, platform and customer reviews) had statistically significant effects on customers' trust and behavioral intentions. Practical implications: The research results provide practical recommendations for Airbnb hosts and peer-to-peer accommodation platforms on using several types of textual and visual cleanliness information to influence guests' attitudes and behavioral intentions. Originality/value: This study advances knowledge by introducing new factors affecting guests' trust and behavioral intentions in peer-to-peer accommodation settings and differentiating the effects of different sources of cleanliness information and different types of guests' trust.
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The observed global crises call into question the existing economic model, the functioning of individual institutions, and the lifestyles of entire societies. These crises do not create new problems and challenges, but reinforce already existing and developing trends. The identification and analysis of long-term, society-wide and economic phenomena called megatrends allows us to define the most significant trends of a global and civilisational nature. Knowledge of them allows enterprises to plan an appropriate strategy of action and design directions for further development. The aim of this article was to identify changes in the behaviour of young people (generation C also known as "digital natives") in the area of the sharing economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical research used a qualitative approach, using focus group interviews (FGI) as the research method. The collected empirical material was then used in the process of semantic field analysis. The explication of the dependency networks for the emerged keywords made it possible to reconstruct two definitions that clarify how interlocutors perceive the sharing economy phenomenon. The first one, more universal, defined the essence of the phenomenon. However, the second definition referred to a narrower perception of the socio-- economic phenomenon under study, namely sharing economy activity during the pandemic period.
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In this paper we contribute to the understanding of how failed stakeholder inclusion in times of crisis can lead to distrust of platform organizations. Drawing on the revelatory case of Airbnb, we explore how stakeholder in-clusion was practiced when the platform was confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe context in which its business practices were disrupted and social interactions uprooted. Our qualitative analysis suggests that platform leaders failed to notice a dissonance between articulated stakeholder meaning and understanding (i.e., what they said) and the crisis response practices implemented (i.e., what they did and did not do). This ulti-mately fostered distrust and selective disengagement as stakeholders re-interpreted Airbnb's claims about their role and how stakeholders were given voice in times of crisis. Drawing on research in psychology, we utilize the concept of inattentional blindness as a novel metaphorical explanation for failed stakeholder inclusion in plat-form organizations in times of crisis.
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Goal: to systematize the factors of consumer participation in collaborative consumption at different levels of the sharing economy . Methodology: a systematic review of the literature on the topic of the factors of consumer participation in collaborative consumption was used as the main research method . For the analysis, the authors selected studies that were published between January 2012 and May 2022 in foreign scientific journals indexed in the scientific citation databases WoS, Scopus, and Google Scholar . As part of the primary selection, the authors analyzed more than 2 thousand publications on the topic . The most relevant papers for the systematic review of the literature were included in the final sample of 151 publications . Findings: as a result of the analysis, the factors of consumer participation in collaborative consumption are systematized into the following groups: economic, technological, political, legal, social, environmental, demographic, psychological, and hedonistic;in addition, the features of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a separate macro factor are revealed . Each group of factors is described at five levels of the sharing economy: personal, organizational, industry, state, and global . Originality and contributions: from a theoretical point of view, the systematization provides comprehensive information about the factors of consumer participation in sharing at each level of the sharing economy, summarizing a number of existing approaches to interpreting participation factors . Concerning application in practice, the results of the survey may be of interest to companies in the sharing economy sector, since additional information about the interaction of exchange participants at different levels will allow companies to better understand their motives, which will contribute to the development of effective marketing and market strategies, increase sales, strengthen the company's position in the market and the development of an effective response to the challenges of the external economic environment in conditions of economic instability .
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This study examined the impacts of perceived Airbnb risks, i.e., performance, financial, physical, social, time, and psychological risks on tourists' intention to use Airbnb. The study also explored the moderating effect of the fear of COVID-19 on the relationship between perceived Airbnb risks and the tourist's intention to use Airbnb. The data was collected from 248 customers of Airbnb using a survey approach. The data were analyzed utilizing the Smart PLS V.4. The PLS-SEM results revealed that Airbnb (physical, psychological, time, performance, financial and social risks) had a significant negative effect on the intention to use Airbnb. On the other side, the fear of COVID-19 acted as a moderator between Airbnb's physical, psychological, and social risks and the intention to use Airbnb, indicating that customers tend to tolerate time and performance risks when having a high level of fear of COVID-19 and prefer to use Airbnb regardless of them. This shift in customer behavior towards customers' intention to use Airbnb in light of the fear of COVID-19 gives Airbnb an edge that should be exploited via remedying other risks. It was suggested that the Airbnb hosts' awareness of the importance of Airbnb in the context of tourism in Egypt should be enhanced. Additionally, a legislative framework should govern Airbnb transactions to secure tourists in dealing with Airbnb hosts. Professionalism in providing Airbnb services should also be adopted. Future studies in the context of the current subject could conduct multi-group analyses according to different types of Airbnb accommodation and use a larger sample size.
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PurposeDrawing on the social exchange theory, stakeholder theory and extended theory of reasoned action, this study aims to investigate how consumers view the economic and sociocultural impacts (benefits/costs) of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations on the local community's resilience and how consumers form behavioral intentions toward P2P accommodation as a part of sustainable tourism behavior.Design/methodology/approachWith data from a survey of 300 consumers who have previously used P2P accommodation, the authors performed partial least squares-structural equation modeling to test the proposed model and hypotheses.FindingsThe current study reveals the significant impact of the sociocultural benefits of P2P accommodations on consumers' perceived community resilience, while economic benefits have a non-significant impact on perceived community resilience. Moreover, neither the sociocultural nor economic costs of P2P accommodation significantly reduce consumers' perceived community resilience. Furthermore, the authors found significant positive relationships among perceived community resilience, attitude, subjective norm, personal norm and behavioral intentions.Practical implicationsP2P accommodation platforms can leverage these research findings and contribute to the community resilience and help community residents by establishing strategic collaboration with various stakeholders (e.g. governments, destination marketing organizations and non-profit organizations) for the community's sustainable development.Originality/valueThis study systematically investigates the role of P2P accommodation in achieving community resilience by categorizing the impacts of P2P accommodation into economic and sociocultural benefits/costs.
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Time banks allow people to exchange and trade their skills;an hour for an hour. Today the United Kingdom (UK) has built a diverse ecosystem around times and skills sharing of both generic (e.g., TimeBanking UK, Communities Together) and specialist skills (e.g., Frontline19). This chapter defines the main characteristics and benefits of time banks. It also provides a typology of platforms that can be found in the UK based on the types of transactions and the types of assets being exchanged. The chapter analyses the evolution of time banks in the UK and how the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered the development of new initiatives. Finally, the chapter also includes a discussion of the attempts to measure the economic and social impact of time banks. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022.
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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of key decision-making attributes on consumers' choice of accommodation among and between hotels and Airbnb.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a choice-based conjoint approach using 21 key decision-making factors that impact consumers' choice of accommodation across five segments ranging from economy to luxury. Latent class estimation was used to identify segments of respondents who tend to have similar preferences for accommodation.FindingsThe results showed the presence of a consistent pattern of decision-making across the five accommodation segments, culminating in a hierarchy of importance in accommodation choice. The 21 key decision-making attributes comprised three tiers in order of decreasing importance: quality and service, amenities, and accessibility and safety. Further, latent class analysis indicated the presence of a hotel group and an Airbnb group of customers, which allowed us to identify how both types of providers might maximize the value of their offers to encourage customer switch.Research limitations/implicationsThe accommodation landscape is extremely dynamic (particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds) and complex. The present study cannot capture all of its intricacies but provides an invaluable foundation for future research on the topic of consumer choice in an evolving and competitive accommodation market.Originality/valueExtant research on accommodation choice has focused on hotels or Airbnb only. Moreover, research that has considered both types of accommodation simultaneously is limited in its conceptual and methodological scope. The present study synthesizes the fragmented literature on consumers' accommodation choices and offers a holistic and coherent schematic – the hierarchy of importance in accommodation choice – that can be used by future researchers and practitioners alike.
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The unbridled propagation of the sharing economy halted abruptly with the onset of the pandemic, forcing sharing economy companies to respond to the new set of challenges faced by them. There were marked differences between the pre- and post-COVID challenges. Post-COVID, sharing economy companies designed novel response strategies including tempering ambitions, adapting business models, designing new standard operating procedures, displaying empathy towards employees and partners, building trust, and sharing information with stakeholders. This signified a reorientation of sharing economy companies in the hyperconnected world where there is a blurring of boundaries as brand experiences and meanings are cocreated by stakeholders. Sharing economy companies would need to focus on different set of values to attain competitive advantage in the post-COVID world – partnership instead of confrontation, nurturing instead of destructive, open and sharing instead of closed, and empathetic instead of uncaring. This can help create meaningful differentiation and provide competitive advantage.
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This chapter presents an analysis of sharing economy development in Poland, not only big businesses such as Uber or Airbnb but also smaller, local initiatives-often in their niches, doing better than global corporations. All kinds of enterprises and institutions are increasingly willing to incorporate elements of shared economics for business practice and organisational culture through stressing cost savings and flexibility. With all the opportunities sharing economy brings, it also creates many unsolved issues, such as regulations, labour law, competition, which often lead to conflicts of different stakeholders. Authors discuss various sharing economy initiatives in Poland as well as social strands, trust, and problems with legally unregulated issues. Furthermore, this chapter also covers different aspects of sharing economy initiatives embedded in the COVID-19 pandemic. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022.
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PurposeThis study aims to understand Chinese consumers' perceived barriers to using peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 and the negotiation strategies they applied in overcoming the barriers and enabling consumption.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design with 28 semi-structured interviews was used. Data were analysed by content analysis.FindingsFive psychological barriers and four functional barriers were found to inhibit consumers from using P2P accommodation both before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. In overcoming the perceived barriers, consumers applied both behavioural negotiation strategies, including seeking information, behavioural adaptation, selective choice and seeking social support, and cognitive negotiation strategies, including cognitive adaptation and trusting agents. COVID-19 was found to serve as both a barrier and a facilitator for using P2P accommodation. A barriers–negotiation framework was developed in the context.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this study advances consumer resistance and perceived barriers literature by integrating negotiation and developing a barriers–negotiation framework of P2P accommodation usage. This study also offers insights for practitioners in the P2P accommodation industry.Originality/valueThis study showcases the role of negotiation in understanding barriers to using P2P accommodation, paving the way to extend relevant knowledge to advance consumer resistance research, which is an emerging topic in the broader management domain.
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PurposeThis study aims to investigate how customers' perceived risks of sharing economy (SE) affect their self-protective behaviors when using SE, leading to their future behavioral intention. Additionally, this study looks into whether there are any differences between accommodation-sharing and ride-sharing customers in the aforementioned relationships.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey targeting two groups of SE customers (i.e. accommodation sharing and ride sharing) was used. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the mechanism of how SE customers' perceived risks of SE affect their self-protective behaviors, which in turn influence their future behavior intention. A multigroup analysis was performed to assess the difference between the two groups of SE customers. Finally, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to see the potential differences between the five classifications of self-protective behaviors in their perceived risks.FindingsSE customers' psychological risks positively affected their hygiene protective behaviors and social protective behaviors, influencing their behavior intention and relative intention (compared with traditional services). Social risk had a negative impact on SE customers' hygiene protective behaviors. There was a significant difference between accommodation sharing and ride sharing customers in their psychological mechanism of how perceived risks influence their self-protective behaviors.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study help SE platforms and service providers better understand their customers' perceived risks of their services and suggest them to promote their customers' self-protective behaviors so that perceived risks can be mitigated, thereby generating strong behavior intentions. As the results indicated that there is a significant difference between the two major forms of SE (i.e. accommodation sharing and ride sharing) in their customers' perceived risks and self-protective behavior, SE platforms can further refine their operational and marketing efforts based on the findings.Originality/valueThis study offers a comprehensive understanding of SE customers' self-protective behaviors by examining the effects of SE customers' different perceived risks on their self-protective behaviors during the unprecedented pandemic. Furthermore, the comparison of the two most popular forms of SE (i.e. accommodation sharing and ride sharing) provides new perspectives to understand customers' behavior in the SE context.
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In recent decades, services on digital platforms have become increasingly important in tourism. What started with concepts of exchange as a non- or less commodified practice of sharing accommodations (e.g., Couchsurfing) became exceedingly commodified in the platform economy on a global scale and turned into successful business models (e.g., Airbnb) with strong effects on traditional provider structures and local labour market. In Austria, the economic relevance of tourism traces back more than 100 years. Today, new forms of overnight stays, such as short-term rentals (STRs), have flooded the traditional tourism industry market with offerings in the accommodation sector and pose particular challenges in the housing market in Austrian cities. The COVID-19 crisis highlights the general volatility in tourism. Therefore, alternative business models seem to be more important than before. Discussing the relevance of hybrid sharing as a business model between market-based services and platform cooperatives in the global platform economy, domestic examples from Austria serve as an incentive for other countries to show new pathways in terms of alternative platform structures and work towards a less volatile economy. In doing so, national insights of regulations of global players and new guidelines of platform-based sharing are debated too. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022.
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PurposeCOVID-19 affects the peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation industry. With regard to prospect theory, individuals' negative emotions, such as institutional distrust, are easily evoked and impede consumption intention in an environment of permeating uncertainty and risks. While existing research indicates the negative effects of institutional distrust, scant research has explored its antecedents and intervention mechanisms. This study thus aims to unveil the influencing factors and explore mitigating mechanisms of customers' institutional distrust of P2P accommodations.Design/methodology/approachOnline reviews data were used to identify the underlying critical issues. The authors developed a model to depict how institutional distrust is formed under the boundary condition of subjective norm by the results. The model was verified using a questionnaire survey. Finally, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to ensure its robustness.FindingsThe external environment and internal platform effectiveness are two critical aspects affecting institutional distrust of P2P accommodations. The external environment influences institutional distrust through perceived threat, explaining the formation mechanism of customers' institutional distrust through customers' internal psychology. Furthermore, the authors found subjective norm moderating the effect of perceived threat on customers' institutional distrust.Research limitations/implicationsThis is one of the first studies, to the best of the authors' knowledge, to explore institutional distrust of P2P accommodations after COVID-19. The finding contributes to studies on P2P accommodation by uncovering the contingent role of subjective norm in influencing customers' institutional distrust.Originality/valueThis is a pioneering study that explores the antecedents and mitigating mechanisms of institutional distrust of P2P accommodations during the new normal of COVID-19.