Millenials’ intentions to book on Airbnb

ABSTRACT

The sharing economy has witnessed a significant growth in recent years, enhanced by the development of online platforms. In particular, Airbnb has witnessed a significant worldwide year-on-year growth. Given the importance and popularity of Airbnb, it is crucial to examine which factors affect intentions to book on this website. This study proposes and tests a model based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, to examine millennials’ determinants of intentions to book on Airbnb. Based on two online surveys targeting millennials from Germany and China, the results show that intentions to book on Airbnb is mostly influenced by subjective norm, desire for unique accommodation and variety, attitude and economic benefits. Surprisingly, economic benefits have the smallest effect. Perceived risk with the purchase channel was found to have no impact on intentions to book on Airbnb. Managerial implications and theoretical contributions are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Airbnb
• millennials
• PLS structural equation modelling
• sharing economy
• Theory of Reasoned Action

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness through a research grant (ECO2014- 53837-R).