How Electronic Word of Mouth Matters in Peer-to-Peer Accommodation: The Role of Price and Responsiveness

ABSTRACT

Under information asymmetry, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is crucial to understanding customer experience in peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation. However, the topics of what dimensions are included in eWOM and how these dimensions determine sales performance from a contingency perspective remain starkly underinvestigated. Drawing upon trust transfer theory and signaling theory, we identify two eWOM dimensions (i.e., listing-based eWOM and host-based eWOM) and examine their interactions with price and responsiveness on sales performance. Using objective data from Xiaozhu.com, a leading accommodation-sharing platform in China, we apply machine learning algorithms and economic analysis to illustrate customer behavior. Our results indicate that the valence of listing-based eWOM and that of host-based eWOM are positively associated with sales performance. Compared with listing-based eWOM, host-based eWOM exerts a more decisive influence on sales performance. Notably, the relationship between the valence of listing-based eWOM (host-based eWOM) and sales performance is weakened (strengthened) by listing price (host’s responsiveness). These findings provide helpful managerial insights for service strategies and policy actions to improve the accommodation-sharing economy.

KEY WORDS AND PHRASES:

• P2P accommodation
• eWOM
• signaling theory
• trust transfer
• online sales performance
• peer-to-peer e-commerce
• sharing economy

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 71874131; 72132007) and the key project of philosophy and social science research of the Ministry of Education of China (grant number: 20JZD024).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary information

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fuzhen Liu

Fuzhen Liu ([email protected]) received her MS degree in e-commerce from Wuhan University and is pursuing her PhD at the Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research focuses on information systems, the sharing economy, online reviews, operations management, and social networks. She has published in Journal of Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems.

Xin (Robert) Luo ([email protected]) is an Endowed Regent’s Professor and a full professor of management information systems and information assurance in the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. He received his PhD in management information systems from Mississippi State University. His research interests center around information assurance, innovative technologies for strategic decision making, and global IT management. Dr. Luo has published in such journals as Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Decision Sciences, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and others. Dr. Luo serves as Associate Editor for Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, and several other journals.. He is the co-editor-in-chief for the International Journal of Accounting and Information Management.

Kee-hung Lai

Kee-Hung Lai ([email protected]) is a professor at the Faculty of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Lai has research interests in management information systems, with publications appearing at Communications of the ACM, Communications of the AIS, Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and other journals.

Jiang Wu

Jiang Wu ([email protected]; corresponding author) is a professor and associate dean of the School of Information Management of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. He obtained his PhD from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Dr. Wu’s research focuses on social networks, electronic commerce, business analytics, and informetrics. His research has appeared in such journals as Decision Support Systems, Information Processing and Management, Journal of Informetrics, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Journal of Knowledge Management, and others.