‘Platform stress’: exploring a new type of stress in the sharing economy

ABSTRACT

In global P2P accommodation platform operations, hosts can experience severe stress from the platform company, customers, and technological complexity. Applying sociotechnical theory, this study aims to explore platform stress in the sharing economy and verify the stressor-strain-outcome (SSO) framework. A survey of Airbnb hosts demonstrates that ‘conflict with headquarters,’ ‘negative reviews from customers,’ and ‘technological complexity’ influence the ‘strain’ of hosts. Furthermore, we verify the role of firm performance that negatively affects switching intention. It also serves as a moderator in the relationship between strain and switching intention. Focusing on platform stress, this study evaluates the concept and definition of platform stress and provides useful insights for platform business operators.

KEYWORDS:

• Platform
• Stress
• P2P platform business
• Sociotechnical theory
• Technostress
• Stressor-strain-outcome framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea: [Grant Number (NRF-2019S1A3A2098438)].