Tit for tat: understanding the responding behavior of property hosts on peer-to-peer rental platforms

Abstract

Purpose Due to their very different contexts, the responses made by property hosts to online reviews can differ from those posted by hotel managers. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of the responding behavior of hosts on peer-to-peer property rental platforms. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a comprehensive framework based on the theory of planned behavior. Empirical models are constructed based on 89,967 guest reviews with their associated responses to reveal the responding pattern of property hosts. Findings Unlike hotel managers, property hosts are more likely to reply to positive than to negative reviews; moreover, when they do choose to respond to negative reviews, they are likely to do so negatively, in a “tit-for-tat” way. This study also finds that one reason for the difference of responding patterns between property hosts and hotel managers is the hosts’ lack of experience of consumer relationship management and service recovery. Research limitations/implications This study provides a good start point for future theoretical development regarding effective responding strategy on peer-to-peer property rental platforms, as well as some useful implications for practitioners. Originality/value This study is an early attempt to analyze the impact of the particularity of emerging platforms on the responding behavior of service providers based on a comprehensive conceptual framework and empirical model thus provides a good starting point for the further investigation of effective response strategies on these emerging platforms.

Listing popularity on the peer-to-peer accommodation platform: the heuristic-systematic and uncertainty reduction perspectives

“…First, our work contributes to the P2P accommodation platform literature by highlighting the importance of the listing popularity. The extant P2P accommodation platform literature has largely centered on the investigation of reservation behavior (So et al , 2018; Nisar et al , 2020), loyalty behavior (Shuqair et al , 2019; So et al , 2019), participation behavior (Lee et al , 2019), host behaviors (Liang et al , 2021), pricing strategy (Sainaghi, 2020) and P2P accommodation performance (Leoni et al , 2020; Ranjbari et al , 2020). However, the listing popularity has been largely underexplored in the literature.…”

“…user-generated photos) in consumer decision-making, such as restaurant selection (Oliveira and Casais, 2019) and hotel booking intention (Ladhari and Michaud, 2015). The second stream focuses on explaining the host behaviors of P2P accommodation (Li et al , 2020; Xie and Chen, 2019; Liang et al , 2021; Kim et al , 2021; Teixeira et al , 2020). The third stream highlights the pricing strategy of P2P accommodation (Gibbs et al , 2018; Sainaghi, 2020).…”

Antecedents and consequences of co-creation value with a resolution of complex P2P relationships

“…The peer profile can be a starting point for peers to interact and co-create value for one another. According to previous researchers (Casais et al , 2020; Foroudi et al , 2019; Liang et al , 2021), peers may co-create by interacting during service encounters, outlining their preferences, expectations, reviews, likes and dislikes. A pleasant profile that shows trustworthiness (Shen et al , 2020), good reputation and appealing content (Li, 2019;) encourages value co-creation between peers (Kim et al , 2021; Prebensen and Xie, 2017).…”

Motivation behind review provision in online travel communities: do hometowner contributions matter?

“…Most findings are consistent with those of studies on users’ motivation for sharing knowledge in online communities, such as Q&A forums and internet encyclopedias. However, given the particularities of online review provision, some studies also reported that reciprocity is ineffective in influencing users’ review provision because online reviews benefit a broad range of audiences rather than specific individuals (Ke et al , 2020; Liang et al , 2021). Most related studies tended to investigate the determinants of users’ review-posting behavior from the perspective of verifying the effectiveness of platform incentive strategies (Bortoluzzi et al , 2020).…”