| Airbnb's influence has been growing rapidly in the last few years, and hotel operators are beginning to recognize the competitive threat it poses. However, consumers may perceive Airbnb differently than hoteliers. Thus, the current study attempts to explore hotel customers' perceptions of the sharing economy business (Airbnb). It is important to pay attention to the different business settings of the channels that currently exist in the lodging industry. Moreover, investigating the relationship between trust and perceived risk in this new channel (i.e., Airbnb) is crucial due to the inherent risk of transactions on Airbnb, especially when compared with traditional Business-to-customer. Considering the fact that Airbnb belongs to a different context (Customer-to-customer) than traditional hotels (B2C), this study uses a mixed methods approach, specifically with an exploratory sequential design. Through the qualitative analysis, Study Phase 1 identified antecedents of trust and perceived risk on the intention to select Airbnb. These factors were categorized into the three attributes of Airbnb, which include channel, accommodations, and individual host. Study Phase 2 consisted of two stages: 1) instrument development by using EFA based on the results from Study Phase 1, and then, 2) empirical validation by using the PLS-SEM technique in order to thoroughly examine the relationships in the proposed S-O-R framework. Findings, implications, and suggestions for future studies were also discussed. |
