Beauty premium or beauty penalty in sharing accommodation situations based on lay theories

Abstract

Purpose Limited research has paid attention to the physical attractiveness stereotype in peer-to-peer sharing accommodation settings. Since the high-risk situations in sharing accommodations, this paper aims to exam whether beauty premium is still relevant in peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation. Design/methodology/approach The mixed method, including 2,506 secondary data analysis and two scenario experiments, is carried out to test the research framework. Findings The results show that both beauty premium and beauty penalty exist in the e-commerce context. Excessively high attractiveness and plain looking of hosts are likely to decrease consumers’ booking decision while moderately attractive hosts will stimulate more booking behaviors. Moreover, perceived trustworthiness mediates the effect of physical attractiveness on booking decision. Additionally, similarity between hosts and consumers plays a moderating role in the relationship between physical attractiveness and perceived trustworthiness. Research limitations/implications This study reveals the physical attractiveness stereotype effects in P2P accommodation and carry implications to P2P platforms and hosts for providing moderately attractive profile photos, enhancing trustworthiness and similarity between hosts and consumers. Further studies can investigate the robustness of the findings as well as more possible reasons for its occurrence. Originality/value The research provides a clearer understanding of physical attractiveness stereotype effect in peer-to-peer sharing accommodation platforms. Besides, the linkage between physical attractiveness and perceived trustworthiness is dynamic; a high host – consumer similarity weakens the negative impact of both excessively high attractiveness and plain looking on consumers’ perceived trustworthiness.

Do looks matter for hosts on the peer-to-peer sharing accommodation market?

“…Our study further verified the roles of hosts' facial attractiveness on consumers' booking intentions and willingness to pay. Moreover, different from previous studies demonstrating either a positive U-shaped (Peng et al, 2020) or an inverted U-shaped relationship (Li et al, 2022) between hosts' facial attractiveness and consumer behavior, we found that the impacts of hosts' facial attractiveness were linear.…”

“…Also distinct from some studies (Barnes, 2021;Li et al, 2022) discussing the effect of facial attractiveness through the mechanism of perceived trustworthiness, this study unearthed the underlying mechanism of the beauty premium on mental imagery theory. Results highlighted the mediating roles of perceived enjoyment (i.e., a positive emotional state when the behavioral inhibition system is activated) and perceived threat (i.e., a negative emotional state when the behavioral activation system is activated), which shaped consumers' booking intentions and willingness to pay.…”

“…First, it enriches work on the impact of hosts' facial attractiveness on consumers' decisions about peer-to-peer accommodation platforms by integrating stimulus-organism-response theory and mental imagery theory. Although some scholars have performed preliminary investigations on this topic (Ert et al, 2016;Li et al, 2022), findings have been contradictory and potentially controversial. Based on three studies, the present study not only verified the positive role of hosts' facial attractiveness on consumers' booking intentions (i.e., the beauty premium exists in the Airbnb market) but also extended this line of work by testing the beauty premium in relation to consumers' willingness to pay.…”

“…Peng et al (2020) concluded that hosts' facial attractiveness correlates with Airbnb occupancy rate in a U-shaped manner. Conversely, other authors have identified an inverted U-shaped effect of hosts' facial attractiveness on consumers' booking behavior on Tujia, a Chinese peer-to-peer accommodation platform (Li et al, 2022). Overall, however, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the role of facial attractiveness in the peer-to-peer accommodation market (Barnes & Kirshner, 2021;.…”

“…Consumers also create mental imagery to anticipate consumption during pre-purchase deliberations (Kim et al, 2021). Studies have mainly linked hosts' facial attractiveness with perceived trustworthiness (Ert & Fleischer, 2020;Li et al, 2022). Most work has overlooked the role of consumption vision, evoked by the visual stimulus of hosts' facial attractiveness in profile photos, during the pre-booking stage.…”