Sense of Community and Trust in the Sharing Economy

Authors Maarten ter Huurne, Amber Ronteltap, Vincent Buskens
Published in Tourism Analysis
Publication date 2020
Type Article

Summary

Property sharing is one of the most prominent examples of the rapidly expanding sharing economy. Travelers around the world often opt to stay at a stranger's apartment instead of any other tourism accommodation. Trust is essential in this choice, because staying with, or taking in, strangers can entail great risks. To create trust between users, sharing platforms often promote a sense of community. However, the relation between sense of community and trust in the sharing economy is still largely unknown. To investigate this relation, both hosts and guests of two sharing platforms, namely Airbnb and SabbaticalHomes, were surveyed. The findings indicate that sense of community indeed enhances trust between users. Moreover, the evidence suggests that hosts have a stronger sense of community than guests. Also, a significantly higher sense of community was found on the platform where identification between users is higher. This study shows that affect for the community contributes to the understanding of trust in the sharing economy.

On this publication contributed

Language English
Published in Tourism Analysis
Year and volume 25 1
Key words AirBNB, Communities, Sense of Community, Sharing economy, Social Idendification, Trust
Page range 43-61

Maarten ter Huurne

Maarten ter Huurne

Maarten ter Huurne

  • Researcher
  • Research group: Sustainable Communities