IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v48y2024i4p1009-1036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Virtue Signaling in the Sharing Economy: The Effect of Airbnb Entrepreneurs’ Virtue Language on Airbnb Price Premiums

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey A. Chandler
  • Jacob A. Waddingham
  • Marcus T. Wolfe

Abstract

Drawing from costless signaling research, we examine the role of virtue language in Airbnb listings. We propose that virtue language espoused by entrepreneurs is beneficial for Airbnb price premiums—but only to a certain extent. Specifically, we argue that virtue language espoused by entrepreneurs has a curvilinear relationship with the price premium of their listings, suggesting that excessive use is seen as dishonest and becomes detrimental to their performance. We also suggest that this relationship is more pronounced when the entrepreneur is perceived to be more credible and when the entrepreneur is venturing into more conservative markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey A. Chandler & Jacob A. Waddingham & Marcus T. Wolfe, 2024. "Virtue Signaling in the Sharing Economy: The Effect of Airbnb Entrepreneurs’ Virtue Language on Airbnb Price Premiums," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(4), pages 1009-1036, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:48:y:2024:i:4:p:1009-1036
    DOI: 10.1177/10422587231226114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10422587231226114
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10422587231226114?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wessel, Michael & Thies, Ferdinand & Benlian, Alexander, 2022. "The role of prototype fidelity in technology crowdfunding," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 132588, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    2. Allison, Thomas H. & Davis, Blakley C. & Webb, Justin W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2017. "Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 707-725.
    3. Donald D. Bergh & Brian L. Connelly & David J. Ketchen Jr & Lu M. Shannon, 2014. "Signalling Theory and Equilibrium in Strategic Management Research: An Assessment and a Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(8), pages 1334-1360, December.
    4. Michael Spence, 2002. "Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 434-459, June.
    5. Johnson, Michael A. & Stevenson, Regan M. & Letwin, Chaim R., 2018. "A woman's place is in the… startup! Crowdfunder judgments, implicit bias, and the stereotype content model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 813-831.
    6. U. David Park & Warren Boeker & David Gomulya, 2020. "Political ideology of the board and CEO dismissal following financial misconduct," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 108-123, January.
    7. Todd W. Moss & Donald O. Neubaum & Moriah Meyskens, 2015. "The Effect of Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Orientations on Microfinance Lending and Repayment: A Signaling Theory Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 27-52, January.
    8. Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum, 2010. "With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U‐Shaped Relationship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(1), pages 109-118, February.
    9. Payne, G. Tyge & Brigham, Keith H. & Broberg, J. Christian & Moss, Todd W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2011. "Organizational Virtue Orientation and Family Firms," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 257-285, April.
    10. Anastasia Danilov & Dirk Sliwka, 2017. "Can Contracts Signal Social Norms? Experimental Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 459-476, February.
    11. Karl Taeuscher & Eric Yanfei Zhao & Michael Lounsbury, 2022. "Categories and narratives as sources of distinctiveness: Cultural entrepreneurship within and across categories," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2101-2134, October.
    12. Short, Jeremy C. & Anglin, Aaron H., 2019. "Is leadership language ‘rewarded’ in crowdfunding? Replicating social entrepreneurship research in a rewards-based context," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Alistair R. Anderson & Robert Smith, 2007. "The moral space in entrepreneurship: an exploration of ethical imperatives and the moral legitimacy of being enterprising," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 479-497.
    14. Richard F. J. Haans & Constant Pieters & Zi-Lin He, 2016. "Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1177-1195, July.
    15. Kyle Barron & Edward Kung & Davide Proserpio, 2021. "The Effect of Home-Sharing on House Prices and Rents: Evidence from Airbnb," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 23-47, January.
    16. Sofia Bapna, 2019. "Complementarity of Signals in Early-Stage Equity Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 933-952, February.
    17. Riccardo Torelli & Federica Balluchi & Arianna Lazzini, 2020. "Greenwashing and environmental communication: Effects on stakeholders' perceptions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 407-421, February.
    18. Seth Carnahan & Rajshree Agarwal & Benjamin A. Campbell, 2012. "Heterogeneity in turnover: the effect of relative compensation dispersion of firms on the mobility and entrepreneurship of extreme performers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(12), pages 1411-1430, December.
    19. Gerard George & Adam J. Bock, 2011. "The Business Model in Practice and its Implications for Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 83-111, January.
    20. Georgios Zervas & Davide Proserpio & John W. Byers, 2021. "A first look at online reputation on Airbnb, where every stay is above average," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 1-16, March.
    21. Jeffrey A. Chandler & Yeongsu (Anthony) Kim & Jacob A. Waddingham & Aaron D. Hill, 2023. "Going global? CEO political ideology and the choice between international alliances and international acquisitions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(8), pages 1441-1470, October.
    22. Mingfeng Lin & Nagpurnanand R. Prabhala & Siva Viswanathan, 2013. "Judging Borrowers by the Company They Keep: Friendship Networks and Information Asymmetry in Online Peer-to-Peer Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 17-35, August.
    23. Roma, Paolo & Vasi, Maria & Kolympiris, Christos, 2021. "On the signaling effect of reward-based crowdfunding: (When) do later stage venture capitalists rely more on the crowd than their peers?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    24. Colombo, Massimo G. & Meoli, Michele & Vismara, Silvio, 2019. "Signaling in science-based IPOs: The combined effect of affiliation with prestigious universities, underwriters, and venture capitalists," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 141-177.
    25. Loughran, Tim & McDonald, Bill, 2013. "IPO first-day returns, offer price revisions, volatility, and form S-1 language," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 307-326.
    26. Rong Ma & Yen‐chih Huang, 2016. "Opportunity‐Based Strategic Orientation, Knowledge Acquisition, and Entrepreneurial Alertness: The Perspective of the Global Sourcing Suppliers in China," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(3), pages 953-972, July.
    27. Rumpf, Christopher & Boronczyk, Felix & Breuer, Christoph, 2020. "Predicting consumer gaze hits: A simulation model of visual attention to dynamic marketing stimuli," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 208-217.
    28. Voon Chin Phua, 2019. "Perceiving Airbnb as sharing economy: the issue of trust in using Airbnb," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(17), pages 2051-2055, October.
    29. Zhihua Zhang & Rachel J. C. Chen & Lee D. Han & Lu Yang, 2017. "Key Factors Affecting the Price of Airbnb Listings: A Geographically Weighted Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-13, September.
    30. George Loewenstein & Cass R. Sunstein & Russell Golman, 2014. "Disclosure: Psychology Changes Everything," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 391-419, August.
    31. Richard H. Lester & S. Trevis Certo & Catherine M. Dalton & Dan R. Dalton & Albert A. Cannella, 2006. "Initial Public Offering Investor Valuations: An Examination of Top Management Team Prestige and Environmental Uncertainty," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 1-26, January.
    32. Kakar, Venoo & Voelz, Joel & Wu, Julia & Franco, Julisa, 2018. "The Visible Host: Does race guide Airbnb rental rates in San Francisco?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 25-40.
    33. Ert, Eyal & Fleischer, Aliza, 2019. "The evolution of trust in Airbnb: A case of home rental," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 279-287.
    34. Packard, Mark D. & Burnham, Thomas A., 2021. "Do we understand each other? Toward a simulated empathy theory for entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    35. Sana Zafar & Jacob Waddingham & Miles Zachary & Jeremy Short, 2023. "Search behavior and decision confidence in equity crowdfunding: An information search process model perspective," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(4), pages 1638-1671, July.
    36. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    37. A. Michael Spence, 1973. "Time and Communication in Economic and Social Interaction," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(4), pages 651-660.
    38. Christopher Courtney & Supradeep Dutta & Yong Li, 2017. "Resolving Information Asymmetry: Signaling, Endorsement, and Crowdfunding Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 265-290, March.
    39. Janina Sundermeier & Martin Gersch & Jörg Freiling, 2020. "Hubristic Start‐up Founders – The Neglected Bright and Inevitable Dark Manifestations of Hubristic Leadership in New Venture Creation Processes," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 1037-1067, July.
    40. Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Short, Jeremy C. & Wolfe, Marcus T., 2021. "Finding the crowd after exogenous shocks: Exploring the future of crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    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. Short, Jeremy C. & Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Wolfe, Marcus, 2024. "Community markets and entrepreneurship: A primer," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).

    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. Simon Kleinert, 2024. "The Promise of New Ventures’ Growth Ambitions in Early-Stage Funding: On the Crossroads between Cheap Talk and Credible Signals," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 274-309, January.
    2. Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Anglin, Aaron H. & Kanwal, Fizza & Short, Jeremy C., 2024. "No politics in funding pitches: An expectancy violations theory perspective of entrepreneurs' political expressions in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).
    3. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    4. Julian Bafera & Simon Kleinert, 2023. "Signaling Theory in Entrepreneurship Research: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2419-2464, November.
    5. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2023. "Affiliation rhetoric and digital orientation in crowdfunding appeals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    6. Johan, Sofia & Zhang, Yelin, 2020. "Quality revealing versus overstating in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How signal intensity of behavioral orientations affects crowdfunding performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in crowdfunding business ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 204-220.
    8. Ana Paula Matias Gama & Ricardo Emanuel Correia & Mário Augusto & Fábio Duarte, 2023. "Third-party signals in crowdfunded microfinance: which microfinance institutions boost crowdfunding among refugee entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 559-586, August.
    9. Huang, Jin & Sena, Vania & Li, Jun & Ozdemir, Sena, 2021. "Message framing in P2P lending relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 761-773.
    10. Karl Taeuscher & Eric Yanfei Zhao & Michael Lounsbury, 2022. "Categories and narratives as sources of distinctiveness: Cultural entrepreneurship within and across categories," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2101-2134, October.
    11. Ye Liu & Ke Zhang & Weili Xue & Ziyu Zhou, 2024. "Crowdfunding innovative but risky new ventures: the importance of less ambiguous tone," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-43, December.
    12. Wang, Shaoda & Ye, Dezhu & Liao, Junyun, 2024. "Politeness matters: The role of polite languages in online peer-to-peer lending," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    13. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    14. Subhan Shahid & Ioanna Liouka & Ioanna Deligianni, 2024. "Signaling sustainability: Can it entice business angels' willingness to invest?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 2832-2848, May.
    15. Fisch, Christian, 2019. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-22.
    16. Pabst, Stefan & Mohnen, Alwine, 2021. "On founders and dictators: Does it pay to pay for signals in crowdfunding?," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    17. Roma, Paolo & Vasi, Maria & Kolympiris, Christos, 2021. "On the signaling effect of reward-based crowdfunding: (When) do later stage venture capitalists rely more on the crowd than their peers?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    18. Emanuel-Correia, Ricardo & Duarte, Fábio & Gama, Ana Paula Matias & Augusto, Mário, 2022. "Does peer-to-peer crowdfunding boost refugee entrepreneurs?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    19. Lamotte, Olivier & Chalençon, Ludivine & Mayrhofer, Ulrike & Colovic, Ana, 2021. "Intangible resources and cross-border acquisition decisions: The impact of reputation and the moderating effect of experiential knowledge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 297-310.
    20. Chan, C.S. Richard & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Sahaym, Arvin & Oo, Pyayt, 2020. "Bellwether and the herd? Unpacking the u-shaped relationship between prior funding and subsequent contributions in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).

    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:sae:entthe:v:48:y:2024:i:4:p:1009-1036. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.