Complexities of trust building through sociomaterial arrangements of peer-to-peer platforms

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of interview participants.

Participant ID	Age	Gender	Nationality	Airbnb use experience
IP1	23	Male	UAE	Occasional user, for ∼1 year
IP2	38	Female	Denmark	Occasional user, for ∼4 years
IP3	26	Female	Ecuador	Frequent user, for ∼2 year
IP4	30	Female	USA	Frequent user, for ∼5 years
IP5	25	Female	USA	Frequent user, for ∼5 years
IP6	26	Female	USA	Frequent user, for ∼4 years
IP7	44	Male	Sweden	Frequent user, for ∼10 years
IP8	30	Female	Norway	Occasional user, for ∼1 year
IP9	31	Male	Canada	Frequent user, for ∼6 years
IP10	39	Male	Sweden	Occasional user, for ∼4 years
IP11	30	Female	Czech Republic	Occasional user, for ∼4 years
IP12	32	Male	Peru	Occasional user, for ∼1 year
IP13	29	Female	Mexico	Frequent user, for ∼6 years
IP14	26	Female	Mexico	Occasional user, for ∼2 years
IP15	23	Male	China	Occasional user, for ∼1 year

Figure 1. Airbnb accommodation search filters.

Table 2. Trust building stages and related sociomaterial arrangements.

Stage and practice	Facilitating trust	Facilitating distrust	Sociomaterial arrangements in use
Before stay: Perceiving trustworthiness	Based on online reputation. Informs about trustworthiness, highlights ability and integrity.	Lacking ability or integrity shown in evaluations. Allows avoiding risky service relations.	Search page: structured with algorithms, search filters, structure of platform’s interface. ‘Superhost’ and other quality marks structure search for providers
During stay: Building trust in interactions	Swift trust – developed over a short period of time for a temporary relationship. Based on ability – skills and competence, integrity – a common value framework.	Violations of expected integrity. Distrust is detrimental to service relationship.	Policies, e.g. Terms of Service, establish how a service relationship should look. Information in profiles and reviews form expectations.
After stay: Maintaining a positive reputation	Guest and host provide reciprocal public and private feedback. Benevolence shows in mutual reviewing.	Earlier distrust prevents writing reviews. Guests have a propensity to trust rather than distrust.	Distinction between public and private feedback in platform’s design allows benevolence in reviewing.