What do Airbnb hosts reveal by posting photographs online and how does it affect their perceived trustworthiness?

Abstract

The use of sellers' personal photographs online is ubiquitous in sharing economy platforms such as Airbnb. This paper addresses two questions. First, what type of personal photos do hosts choose to post on Airbnb? Second, which of the characteristics of their photos affects their perceived trustworthiness? We answer these questions by building a structural equation model of the relation between the characteristics of the photos and the perceived trustworthiness of the hosts. The antecedents of trust in this model were defined based on insights from psychology regarding first impressions. We found that the hosts' visual characteristics (e.g., gender) as revealed in their online photographs affect their perceived trustworthiness both directly and indirectly via attractiveness. We also found that image characteristics, which are not related directly to the traits of the host in the picture (e.g., photograph quality), play a significant role in trust inference. Interestingly, the hosts' choices of their personal photos suggest that they may not be aware of these effects. K E Y W O R D SAirbnb profile, attractiveness, first impression, impression formation, peer-to-peer markets, sharing economy, trust inference

The dark side of the sharing economy: Balancing value co‐creation and value co‐destruction

“…Within this complex ecology, sharing actors exchange resources, interact, and create value and meaning, stability and reliability through repeated exposure to each other (Vargo & Akaka, 2012). Habitual activities thereby create familiarity, trust (Ert & Fleischer, 2019), and community (Swindler, 2001) at the micro‐level of consumer and provider, while contributing to the formation of service ecosystems at the macro‐level of society and economy (Edvardsson, Tronvoll, & Gruber, 2011; Quero & Ventura, 2019; Vargo & Akaka, 2012). The accommodation sharing economy operates within this wider ecosystem, overlaps with several socioeconomic and psychological domains, relies on institutions, and takes advantage of internet connectivity and engagement platforms (Breidbach & Brodie, 2017) to support individuals to share underutilized resources that they own with people who are seeking those resources.…”

“…Guests/users also experience value co‐destruction as they complain about forums that they have been let down by false descriptions, fake photos, unfulfilled arrangements, overbookings, cancelations, and other disruptions. Many hosts over‐exaggerate aspects of their property or their location and raise expectations, which are then not met (Brochado, Troilo, & Shah, 2017; Ert & Fleischer, 2019). Puffery by hosts creates disappointment and dissatisfaction, as well as friction in communication with hosts when guests do not receive what was promised.…”

“…Engagement platforms facilitate the exchange of resources that help build and strengthen bonds between new communities (Breidbach & Brodie, 2017). The sharing economy has particularly disrupted the hospitality sector with Airbnb, and the automobile sharing sector through Uber (Altinay & Taheri, 2019; Chasin, von Hoffen, Cramer, & Matzner, 2018; Ert & Fleischer, 2019). Their platforms attract unconventional participants to the market because the new opportunities are providing income whilst also permitting immediacy and personal interactions with customers (Osman, D'Acunto, & Johns, 2019; Simon & Roederer, 2019; Tussyadiah, 2015).…”

“…These thresholds need to be based on the community's values which operate in these neighborhoods and reflect how social life is performed, and how individuals and families perceive their quality of life (Diener, Tamir, & Scollon, 2006; Sirgy, Lee, Park, Joshanloo, & Kim, 2019; Swidler, 2001). New psychological measures of crowding, suitable for urban environments are needed (Butler, 2020), that include perceptions of safety and trustworthiness (Ert & Fleischer, 2019), enjoyment of meeting tourists (Simon & Roederer, 2019), and social distance measures to both tourists and other locals (Osman, D'Acunto, & Johns, 2019). Our research questions are guided by the goals of Transformative Service Research (Anderson et al, 2013).…”

The sharing economy: Psychological mechanisms that affect collaborative consumption

“…Three articles selected for publication in this special issue can be categorized as dealing with the first of our four identified themes, consumer feelings. Ert and Fleischer (2019) enlighten us with their research on how trust formation in certain situations may depend on variables related to profile characteristics, such as personal photos. The second article under the theme of consumer feelings but previously published in an earlier issue was the work of Osman et al (2019).…”