IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i15p4064-d252411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shared Short-Term Rentals for Sustainable Tourism in the Social-Network Age: The Impact of Online Reviews on Users’ Purchase Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Jie Zhao

    (School of Business, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China)

  • Zhixiang Peng

    (School of Business, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China)

Abstract

With the development of social networks and the Internet-based sharing economy, shared short-term rentals are emerging as a new kind of service that provides a convenient way for people to buy short-term rental services in cities through social-network-enabled platforms. However, like other social-network-based services, shared short-term rental is also likely to be impacted by online reviews. This paper aims to investigate the impact of online reviews on users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals, and further to provide optimization suggestions for the future advance of shared short-term rentals. The contributions of this paper are many-fold. First, we introduce the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) model into the study and propose new variables for the model, including stimulus variables, organism variables, response variable, and moderating variables. Second, we propose eight hypotheses to evaluate the impact of online reviews on users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals. Finally, we collect data through a questionnaire survey and present comprehensive results on many aspects. Based on the data analysis, we find out that the quality of online reviews impacts users’ perceived value and perceived risk, which in turn impacts users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals. In addition, the cognitive needs of users can adjust the impact of online reviews on the perceived risk of users but have no explicit adjusting effect for users’ perceived value. Further, we present some research implications as well as suggestions for rental platforms to advance shared short-term rentals in the Internet age.

Suggested Citation

  • Jie Zhao & Zhixiang Peng, 2019. "Shared Short-Term Rentals for Sustainable Tourism in the Social-Network Age: The Impact of Online Reviews on Users’ Purchase Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4064-:d:252411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4064/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4064/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ert, Eyal & Fleischer, Aliza & Magen, Nathan, 2016. "Trust and reputation in the sharing economy: The role of personal photos in Airbnb," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 62-73.
    2. Babin, Barry J & Darden, William R & Griffin, Mitch, 1994. "Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(4), pages 644-656, March.
    3. Jie Zhao & Jianfei Wang & Suping Fang & Peiquan Jin, 2018. "Towards Sustainable Development of Online Communities in the Big Data Era: A Study of the Causes and Possible Consequence of Voting on User Reviews," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    4. David Godes & Dina Mayzlin, 2004. "Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 545-560, June.
    5. Jie Zhao & Suping Fang & Peiquan Jin, 2018. "Modeling and Quantifying User Acceptance of Personalized Business Modes Based on TAM, Trust and Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Peter, J Paul & Tarpey, Lawrence X, Sr, 1975. "A Comparative Analysis of Three Consumer Decision Strategies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 2(1), pages 29-37, June.
    7. Phillips, Paul & Zigan, Krystin & Santos Silva, Maria Manuela & Schegg, Roland, 2015. "The interactive effects of online reviews on the determinants of Swiss hotel performance: A neural network analysis," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 130-141.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Piotr Zmyślony & Grzegorz Leszczyński & Anna Waligóra & Wiesław Alejziak, 2020. "The Sharing Economy and Sustainability of Urban Destinations in the (Over)tourism Context: The Social Capital Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Moaaz Kabil & Mohamed Abouelseoud & Faisal Alsubaie & Heba Mostafa Hassan & Imre Varga & Katalin Csobán & Lóránt Dénes Dávid, 2022. "Evolutionary Relationship between Tourism and Real Estate: Evidence and Research Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:dgr:rugsom:04f04 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Lee, Khai Sheang & Tan, Soo Jiuan, 2003. "E-retailing versus physical retailing: A theoretical model and empirical test of consumer choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(11), pages 877-885, November.
    3. Jie Zhao & Chanjuan Zhu & Zhixiang Peng & Xin Xu & Yan Liu, 2018. "User Willingness toward Knowledge Sharing in Social Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Sohn, Jeong Woong & Kim, Jin Ki, 2020. "Factors that influence purchase intentions in social commerce," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Troiville, Julien, 2024. "Connecting the dots between brand equity and brand loyalty for retailers: The mediating roles of brand attitudes and word-of-mouth communication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    6. Cró, Susana & Martins, António Miguel, 2017. "The importance of security for hostel price premiums: European empirical evidence," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 159-165.
    7. Broekhuizen, Thijs L.J. & Jager, Wander, 2004. "A conceptual model of channel choice: measuring online and offline shopping value perceptions," Research Report 04F04, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    8. Hung-Tai Tsou & Ja-Shen Chen & Cindy Yunhsin Chou & Tzu-Wen Chen, 2019. "Sharing Economy Service Experience and Its Effects on Behavioral Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-25, September.
    9. Liang, Sai & Schuckert, Markus & Law, Rob & Chen, Chih-Chien, 2017. "Be a “Superhost”: The importance of badge systems for peer-to-peer rental accommodations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 454-465.
    10. Jie Zhao & Jianfei Wang, 2020. "Health Advertising on Short-Video Social Media: A Study on User Attitudes Based on the Extended Technology Acceptance Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-21, February.
    11. Bin Gu & Jaehong Park & Prabhudev Konana, 2012. "Research Note ---The Impact of External Word-of-Mouth Sources on Retailer Sales of High-Involvement Products," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 182-196, March.
    12. Weisstein, Fei L. & Song, Lei & Andersen, Peter & Zhu, Ying, 2017. "Examining impacts of negative reviews and purchase goals on consumer purchase decision," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 201-207.
    13. Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas & Nidhi Singh & Zoran Kalinic & Elena Carvajal-Trujillo, 2021. "Examining the determinants of continuance intention to use and the moderating effect of the gender and age of users of NFC mobile payments: a multi-analytical approach," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 133-161, June.
    14. Küper, Inken & Edinger-Schons, Laura Marie, 2020. "Is sharing up for sale? Monetary exchanges in the sharing economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 223-234.
    15. Saarijärvi, Hannu & Mitronen, Lasse & Yrjölä, Mika, 2014. "From selling to supporting – Leveraging mobile services in the context of food retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 26-36.
    16. Holmqvist, Jonas & Lunardo, Renaud, 2015. "The impact of an exciting store environment on consumer pleasure and shopping intentions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 117-119.
    17. Diwanji, Vaibhav S. & Cortese, Juliann, 2020. "Contrasting user generated videos versus brand generated videos in ecommerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Garaus, Marion & Wagner, Udo, 2016. "Retail shopper confusion: Conceptualization, scale development, and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3459-3467.
    19. Yucheng Zhang & Zhiling Wang & Lin Xiao & Lijun Wang & Pei Huang, 2023. "Discovering the evolution of online reviews: A bibliometric review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Shijie Lu & Xin (Shane) Wang & Neil Bendle, 2020. "Does Piracy Create Online Word of Mouth? An Empirical Analysis in the Movie Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 2140-2162, May.
    21. Moriuchi, Emi & Takahashi, Ikuo, 2022. "The role of perceived value, trust and engagement in the C2C online secondary marketplace," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 76-88.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4064-:d:252411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.