Determinants of working holiday makers' destination loyalty: Uncovering the role of perceived authenticity

Regardless of the steady growth of working holidays for the past few decades (Tsai & Collins, 2017), working-holiday makers' destination loyalty formation has been little explored. Filling this void, this study was aimed at examining the working-holiday travelers' loyalty generation process by developing a conceptual framework encompassing working-holiday tourism attributes, place identification, place dependence, and perceived authenticity. The results of the structural analysis indicate that the attributes dimensions of working-holidays positively influence place identification and place dependence which in turn trigger destination loyalty. In addition, both place identification and place dependence act as important mediators. Moreover, invariance testing reveals that the place identification- destination loyalty relationship is significantly influenced by perceived authenticity. Our findings help destination practitioners better understand working-holiday travelers' behaviors and develop effective loyalty enhancement strategies.     

The complexity of consumer experience formulation in the sharing economy

The study examines the complexity of the factors that influence overall perception among tourists who use peer-to-peer accommodation during their vacations. More specifically, it employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyse data from a sample of 712 peer-to-peer holidaymakers visiting Athens, Greece, and examines the socio-demographics of age and income along with the simple attributes of perceived risks, marketing and advertising, social aspects, and price and quality issues. The findings reveal three sufficient configurations that are able to influence the overall experience: (i) the price-quality nexus, (ii) risk perspective, and (iii) social interaction. The research also compares nonlinear analysis with the dominant parametric methods in tourism and hospitality research (regression; Cramer’s V), highlighting the suitability of the former for complexity examination. It further progresses from fit to predictive validity for the examined models, and contributes to both theoretical and methodological domains.     

Trust and reputation in the sharing economy: The role of personal photos in Airbnb

‘Sharing economy’ platforms such as Airbnb have recently flourished in the tourism industry. The prominent appearance of sellers' photos on these platforms motivated our study. We suggest that the presence of these photos can have a significant impact on guests' decision making. Specifically, we contend that guests infer the host's trustworthiness from these photos, and that their choice is affected by this inference. In an empirical analysis of Airbnb's data and a controlled experiment, we found that the more trustworthy the host is perceived to be from her photo, the higher the price of the listing and the probability of its being chosen. We also find that a host's reputation, communicated by her online review scores, has no effect on listing price or likelihood of consumer booking. We further demonstrate that if review scores are varied experimentally, they affect guests' decisions, but the role of the host's photo remains significant.     

Pricing in the sharing economy: a hedonic pricing model applied to Airbnb listings

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of a variety of variables on the rates published for Airbnb listings in five large metropolitan areas in Canada. The researchers applied a hedonic pricing model to 15,716 Airbnb listings. As expected, the results show that physical characteristics, location, and host characteristics significantly impact price. Interestingly, more reviews are associated with a drop in price. This information is useful to hosts who are forming a pricing strategy for their listings as well as for Airbnb, who needs to support them. The paper raises important questions about pricing in the sharing economy and suggests avenues for future research in this area.     

Using segmentation to compete in the age of the sharing economy: Testing a core-periphery framework

Airbnb has emerged as a credible competitive threat to the hotel industry. Consequently, hotel brands are having to rethink the experiences they provide to customer in an increasingly competitive environment. Despite these trends in the industry, experience-related research that examines and informs these developments remains under-represented in the hospitality and tourism literature. The present study offers a systematic approach to examine the potential differences in experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. Using a multiple-group analysis approach, it examines the moderating effects of individual characteristics and situational factors on the nature and dynamics of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. The findings of the study culminate in the core-periphery framework of the hospitality consumption experience that can provide a relevant theoretical lens for future research into the different sectors and types of experiences within the hospitality and tourism industry. The study also outlines important implications for the hotel industry’s strategic experience design initiatives, from the standpoint of product development, the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process, and marketing communications.     

A pathway to consumer forgiveness in the sharing economy: The role of relationship norms

The emergence of peer-to-peer accommodations has revolutionized the hospitality industry. Yet, research on peer-to-peer service failures and consumer forgiveness remains scant. This paper shows that relationship type—whether communal ("Airbnb host") or exchange ("hotel")—influences consumer forgiveness in a post-recovery context. Across five studies, this research demonstrates how peer providers (focusing on communal norms) versus conventional providers (focusing on exchange norms) influence consumer forgiveness and their responses to service recovery efforts. Our findings indicate that focusing on social service recovery is particularly effective for Airbnb hosts. These findings have important implications for crafting effective service recovery strategies based on the type of accommodation provider-customer relationship. Finally, our findings can also help peer-to-peer and conventional hospitality providers alleviate consumers’ negative responses to service failures.     

Exploring the meaning of work within the sharing economy: A case of food-delivery workers

This study aims to investigate how the sharing economy has redefined the meaning of work in the food delivery sector. We conducted in-depth interviews with 50 food delivery workers in the sharing economy to identify their work goals and then performed an empirical investigation into the mechanism between the meaning of work, work engagement, and career commitment. Seven work goals were empirically found to fit a bidimensional conceptualization of work goals of intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. Using an instrument developed via qualitative analysis, we found that the relationship between the meaning of work and career commitment varies across dimensions of the meaning of work. Intrinsic orientation was found to generate work engagement and career commitment effectively. The obligation norm appeared to carry unique meaning in the sharing economy. These findings theoretically expand the current understanding of sharing economy employment and provide practical implications for hospitality businesses and the legal sector.     

The construction of home feeling by Airbnb guests in the sharing economy: A semantics perspective

Although the literature of peer-to-peer accommodation is increasingly recognizing the importance of home feeling, little has been done to theorize the construction of home feeling and its impacts on Airbnb guests’ future intention. To fill in this gap, this study systematically unpacked how Airbnb guests construct the feeling of home. A total of 42,085 review comments containing the feeling of home from three major cities in the USA were analyzed from a semantics perspective. Based on our findings we conceptualize home feeling as a PASS_h process, which contains multiple dimensions: physical and spatial, social, and affective, coupled with hospitality. Essentially, the home feeling with the interaction of these dimensions fulfills the daily hybrid needs of the guests.This article also launches the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Peer-to-peer accommodation networks, a special selection of research in this field.     

Exploring the effect of Airbnb hosts' attachment and psychological ownership in the sharing economy

Previous research on the sharing economy has not typically focused on organizational structure and its management in spite of the fact that the essence of recent peer-to-peer business practices is the collaboration of online platforms and sharable assets owned by market peers. This paper critically examines a theoretical model to explore how these market partners engage in this platform organization and how their perceptions of attachment and ownership are established within the new organizational structure. The results of structural equation modeling applied to 224 Airbnb hosts indicate that attachment to a platform firm plays a vital role in achieving a sense of psychological ownership that ultimately influences citizenship behaviors toward the organization as well as toward peer hosts. The results suggest that the newly formed structure should acknowledge an establishing mechanism of attachment and psychological ownership in partnering with individual service providers in its operational management.     

40 years of sharing economy research: An intellectual and cognitive structures analysis

This study aims to analyze the intellectual and cognitive structures of the sharing economy as a field of research. Adopting an integrated bibliometric approach of citation, co-citation, and co-word analysis, this study analyses 941 articles published on Web of Science from 1978 to 2019. Findings reveal that despite there being a latent concentration in citations distribution, the ascending and descending influence patterns discovered over time indicate a dynamic flow and healthy growth of the field. The analysis of the intellectual structure identifies four main areas of research, with hospitality and tourism being the most developed, and the journals about hospitality being the preferred channel for research into the sharing economy. Finally, for the cognitive structure analysis, in-depth strategic diagrams, thematic evolution, and trend analysis disclose some research gaps. Thus, we contribute to the sharing economy literature by inductively synthesizing, and organizing SE research, and by proposing future research directions.     

A dynamic decision support system for evaluating peer-to-peer rental accommodations in the sharing economy

Accommodation accounts for one of the biggest expenses while traveling, and deciding where to stay is often confusing and time-consuming. Fortunately, travelers have more options than ever before because of the substantial growth of the peer-to-peer (P2P) short-term rentals in the sharing economy. Designing a user-friendly system that considers travelers’ preferences in choosing the right accommodation can enhance customer satisfaction and increase profitability. We propose a dynamic decision support system based on the theory of multi-criteria decision making to assist travelers in personalizing their preferences and finding quality accommodations in the dominant P2P market that aligns with those preferences. We use the fuzzy best-worst method to measure the intensity of the user’s preferences and the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) to score and evaluate alternative P2P rental properties. We present a case study in the P2P rental accommodations industry to demonstrate the applicability of the method proposed in this study.     

The role of loyalty programs in boosting hotel guest loyalty: Impact of switching barriers

This study examines the relationships among the perceived value of a loyalty program, customer satisfaction with a loyalty program, affective commitment, switching barriers, and customer brand loyalty in the hotel context. An online survey method with a quantitative approach was used. Our results from a structural equation model revealed that the perceived value of a loyalty program is essential in the formation of customer brand loyalty. Lastly, findings from an indirect analysis showed that affective commitment and switching barriers mediated the relationship between the perceived value of a loyalty program and customer brand loyalty. Overall, our research will help researchers and practitioners demonstrate to the industry that the loyalty program is a crucial strategy for customer loyalty and helps develop competitive loyalty programs for success.     

Measuring perceived risk in sharing economy: A classical test theory and item response theory approach

Sharing economy is considered as a disruptive innovation in the Internet age and inevitably brings huge concerns and risks for tourists. This study aims to develop a multidimensional scale to understanding the tourist risk perception in the sharing economy (TPRSE). First, focus group interviews, and online text analysis were conducted to elicit the initial items. Second, pilot survey involving a sample size of 218 was conducted, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) were applied to refine this preliminary item pool. Third, the TPRSE scale was further validated using the CFA and IRT (n = 745). The TPRSE scale was successfully developed and validated, which including five dimensions of financial risk, social risk, privacy risk, performance risk and physical risk. This study advances the theories of risk perception in the context of sharing economy and provides management strategies to reduce perceived risks in Airbnb accommodations.     

Customer loyalty: the future of hospitality marketing

For many years hospitality firms have believed that the goal of marketing is to create as many new customers as possible. While hoteliers believed it was important to satisfy the guests while they were on the property, the real goal was to continue to find new customers. This constant search for new customers is called conquest marketing. In the future, conquest marketing will not be sufficient. Instead firms need to practice loyalty marketing or retention marketing. The authors believe that this will be the successful wave of the future in hospitality. The goal of this paper is to present a framework for understanding customer loyalty. We do this first by examining the economics of loyalty. We then define loyalty and explain the difference between frequency programs and loyalty programs. We also show why satisfaction does not equal loyalty. We then introduce the Loyalty Triangle^©, which provides a framework for building customer loyalty. Each leg of the Loyalty Triangle^© is then examined in-depth, including examples of how hotel companies use the Loyalty Triangle^© to develop strategy. Next we present ways to measure the success of loyalty programs. Finally, we present future research issues.     

Core and supplemental elements of hospitality in the sharing economy: Insights from semantic and tonal cues in Airbnb property listings

Advances in peer-to-peer sharing, made popular by platforms like Airbnb, have altered previous conceptualizations of the lodging hospitality product. This study performs semantic and tonal analyses on a large-scale dataset collected from Airbnb. Our results support a concept of lodging hospitality that comprises core products and services, supplemental customer care, and a third factor we term ‘host sharing.’ Furthermore, the study offers insight into the topics and rhetorical tactics currently defining lodging hospitality marketing on the Airbnb platform. These findings can be used to provide guidance for Airbnb hosts to provide suitable information in their listings.     

TO SHARE OR TO EXCHANGE: An analysis of the sharing economy characteristics of Airbnb and Fairbnb.coop

Many organizations seek to position themselves as part of the sharing economy, due to positive conceptual connotations; however, in reality, some may more closely represent the exchange rather than the sharing economy. This research analyses the extent to which Airbnb and Fairbnb.coop represent the sharing economy by examining the characteristics of the sharing economy. We utilize a Sharing Index (SI) and a Sharing Economy Continuum (SEC) to measure each organization’s degree of sharing and exchange. The analysis suggests that Fairbnb.coop is a stronger example of the sharing economy than Airbnb. This study offers a more robust characterization of the sharing economy and offers tools to help businesses assess and improve their business practices to more accurately align with the true sharing economy.     

Wilderness state of mind: Expanding authenticity

This paper challenges the overuse of existential authenticity as a categorical umbrella encapsulating touristic experience and contributes new insights to the way postmodern authenticity is defined in tourism research. To date, studies associated with postmodern authenticity have focused on the inauthentic and themed, with scholars contending that it speaks more to the consumptive, the superficial, and the trivial than to the substantive and meaningful. By working through a case study focused on nature tourists in pursuit of authentic wilderness experiences, this paper illustrates the ways postmodern authenticity encompasses much more than cynical authenticity, for while the American wilderness may be a hyperreal, and even hypernatural, simulacrum, nature tourists nevertheless report deep, meaningful, and “authentic” engagements with wilderness.     

Souvenir authenticity in the additive manufacturing age

The expansion of additive manufacturing or 3D printing as a novel (re)production method disrupts social consumption patterns and challenges existing conceptualisations of tourist souvenirs as material, metonymic and symbolic objects that often lack authenticity. The paper evidences how using additive manufacturing to involve visitors in souvenir design decisions in a heritage site may influence their perceptions of souvenir authenticity and value. The transience between physical states (physical object to scanned digital file to physical object again), and the opportunity for visitors to self-craft or contribute to the (re)production process adds a performative element to souvenir consumption that imbues the 3D printed souvenir with its own authenticity and aura. As 3D printers become more ubiquitous, they will redefine further souvenir materiality.