The complexity of consumer experience formulation in the sharing economy

Abstract

The study examines the complexity of the factors that influence overall perception among tourists who use peer-to-peer accommodation during their vacations. More specifically, it employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyse data from a sample of 712 peer-to-peer holidaymakers visiting Athens, Greece, and examines the socio-demographics of age and income along with the simple attributes of perceived risks, marketing and advertising, social aspects, and price and quality issues. The findings reveal three sufficient configurations that are able to influence the overall experience: (i) the price-quality nexus, (ii) risk perspective, and (iii) social interaction. The research also compares nonlinear analysis with the dominant parametric methods in tourism and hospitality research (regression; Cramer's V), highlighting the suitability of the former for complexity examination. It further progresses from fit to predictive validity for the examined models, and contributes to both theoretical and methodological domains.

Why People Participate in Collaborative Consumption: An Exploratory Study of Motivating Factors in a Latin American Economy

“…For personal satisfaction, for example, Nov et al [30] found that this type of motivation, expressed in the satisfaction of sharing photos, incentivized a great number of those adept in social networks to participate in online communities. Pappas [26], on the other hand, determined that enjoyment, measured in terms of social interaction, positively impacts the experience of a tourist who opts for shared accommodation services. Regarding sustainability, Kim et al [31] and May et al [52] demonstrated that non-selfish factors (for example, interest in helping others or protecting the environment) appear to occupy a dominant role in the intention to participate in collaborate initiatives.…”

“…In addition to the aforementioned, the studies carried out in this field have opted for an analysis of concrete initiatives that have circumscribed the scope of their results in a specific segment. According to the literature review (see Appendix A), the vast majority of studies focus on motivations, have opted to analyze specific collaboration or exchange activities (90%), like car sharing, room sharing, open source projects or virtual communities [26][27][28].…”

“…Similar results were achieved in the shared lodging industry. Authors found that financial benefit is one of the main drivers for becoming involved in these kinds of activities [26,65].…”

“…Second, the few studies that have been carried out in this field from the motivations perspective have focused on very specific activities, like car sharing, house sharing or room sharing, limiting, therefore, the results to a specific sector. Third, the studies that have been carried out have analyzed consumers with previous experience, ignoring potential customers [26][27][28]. Consequently, those studies' findings do not explain what measures to adopt to expand global demand.…”

Airbnb Offer in Spain—Spatial Analysis of the Pattern and Determinants of Its Distribution

“…Review papers [2][3][4] and edited books [5,6] outline some of the research topics undertaken in these studies. These include competition between peer-to-peer rentals and traditional hospitality industry [7][8][9][10][11], general contribution to destinations' economies [12][13][14], social impacts [15][16][17][18], with special attention given to the impact on housing markets [19][20][21][22][23], policy and regulations on P2P rental platforms [24][25][26][27], costumer satisfaction of the service provided [28][29][30] and the impact of these new practices on travel patterns [31].…”