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Exploring the language of the sharing economy: Building trust and reducing privacy concern on Airbnb in German and English

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  • Alex Zarifis
  • Richard Ingham
  • Julia Kroenung

Abstract

Several countries’ economies have been disrupted by the sharing economy. Global champions like Airbnb and Uber use similar models and platforms across many countries. However, each country and its consumers have different characteristics including the language used. The text in the profile of those offering their properties in England in English and in Germany in German, are compared to explore whether trust is built, and privacy concerns are reduced in the same way. Six methods of building trust are used by the landlords: (1) the level of formality, (2) distance and proximity, (3) emotiveness and humor, (4) being assertive and passive aggressive, (5) conformity to the platform language style and terminology and (6) setting boundaries. Privacy concerns are not usually reduced directly as this is left to the platform. The findings indicate that language has a limited influence and the platform norms and habits are the biggest influence.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Zarifis & Richard Ingham & Julia Kroenung, 2019. "Exploring the language of the sharing economy: Building trust and reducing privacy concern on Airbnb in German and English," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 1666641-166, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oabmxx:v:6:y:2019:i:1:p:1666641
    DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2019.1666641
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    Cited by:

    1. Libin Guo & Xiangtian Guo, 2022. "A Blockchain Technology Introduction Strategy for Asymmetric Sharing Platforms under Different Homing Behaviors of Both Sides," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Mehdi Montakhabi & Ine Van Zeeland & Pieter Ballon, 2022. "Barriers for Prosumers’ Open Business Models: A Resource-Based View on Assets and Data-Sharing in Electricity Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-29, May.

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