The evolution of trust in Airbnb: A case of home rental

Eyal Ert () and Aliza Fleischer ()

Annals of Tourism Research, 2019, vol. 75, issue C, 279-287

Abstract: Airbnb, a leader of P2P accommodation markets, has acknowledged that “trust is what makes Airbnb work” and has implemented several trust indicators over the years: reputation system, impression formation, and certification. We evaluate the changes in these indicators over time: 1. the modification of the reputation system, 2. the removal of hosts’ photos from the main search screen, and 3. the introduction of the Superhost program. We find that the change of the rating system was associated with a small, yet significant, reduction in ratings, that the removal of the hosts’ photos might have eliminated the price premium of trustworthy images, and that Superhost certification involves a price premium, but does not seem to compensate for established reputation.

Keywords: Peer-to-peer accommodation; Trust; Reputation; Certification; Sharing economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:75:y:2019:i:c:p:279-287

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.01.004

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