Societal Transformation through the Sharing Economy: An example of Trust and Risk on Couchsurfing (pretest)

Societal transformation through contemporary online platforms fosters the change of consumption habits. In this regard, sharing economy platforms are changing the hospitality industry by attracting predominately the millennials generation through modern technologies and innovative business models. The given study examines the non-monetary hospitality platform Couchsurfing. In this regard, the authors investigate the influence of trust and perceived risk on the consumers’ intention to engage in a particular sharing activity. The authors further separate intermediary and users from each other to investigate the distinct influence of the two-sided market mechanisms on the consumers’ intention. This study follows a quantitative approach and employs survey data of over 200 consumers. In view of that, the authors conduct an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in order prepare structural equation modeling for an extended study

What Trust means in the Sharing Economy: A provider perspective on Airbnb.com

Information and communication technology has fostered the rise of the sharing economy, enabling individuals to share excess capacity. In this paper, we focus on Airbnb.com, which is among the most prominent examples of the sharing economy. We take the perspective of an accommodation provider and investigate the concept of trust, which facilitates complete strangers to form temporal C2C relationships on Airbnb.com. In fact, the implications of trust in the sharing economy fundamentally differ to related online industries. In our research model, we investigate the formation of trust by incorporating two antecedents – ‘Disposition to trust’ and ‘Familiarity with Airbnb.com’. Furthermore, we differentiate between ‘Trust in Airbnb.com’ and ‘Trust in renters’ and examine their implications on two provider intentions. To seek support for our research model, we conducted a survey with 189 participants. The results show that both trust constructs are decisive to successfully initiate a sharing deal between two parties

The Non-Monetary Sharing Economy: An Example of Trust and Risk on Couchsurfing

Sharing economy platforms drive new consumption habits in the hospitality industry by attracting individuals through modern technologies and innovative business models. In this study, we examine the relationship between trust, perceived risk, and the consumers’ intention to request an accommodation on the non-monetary hospitality platform Couchsurfing. We further separate intermediary and corresponding users from each other to investigate the influence of the two-sided market mechanisms on the consumers’ intention. Based on a survey of 248 consumers, we propose a research model and perform structural equation modeling. Our results indicate that the influence of trust on the consumers’ intention is fully mediated by perceived risk. Further, our results show that perceived risk of the intermediary and the corresponding users influences the consumers’ intentions, despite the sharing service being free-of-charge. This study contributes to the sharing economy literature by demonstrating the important role of perceived risk on non-monetary sharing economy platforms

Private vs. Business Customers in the Sharing Economy – The implications of Trust, Perceived Risk, and Social Motives on Airbnb

The sharing economy is continuously changing the hospitality industry while competing with incumbent businesses over the available market share. This study examines the peer-to-peer renting service Airbnb. In particular, we investigate how social motives, trust, and perceived risk of private and business customers, alter the accommodation provider’s intention to accept a booking request. Understanding the implications of private and business customers is key – not only for platform providers, but also for researchers investigating the sharing economy. In this article, we develop a questionnaire for assessing the influence of the respective customer type on trust, perceived risk, and the provider’s intention. Our pretest employs survey data (n = 53) and principal component analysis (PCA) to prepare a clean structural equation modeling

Why Would Customers Engage in Drone Deliveries?

Modern technologies, such as autonomously flying vehicles respectively drones, have won attention and are on the edge to change incumbent industries. Whereas drones are currently used in a variety of industry landscapes, such as filmmaking and agriculture, we focus particularly on the shipping industry. In this paper, we take the customers’ perspective and evaluate why customers would engage in drone deliveries. We investigate the influence of trust, perceived risk, and motivational factors and propose a research model that seeks to explain the customers’ intention. This study uses survey data (n = 116) and structural equation modeling. Our results provide empirical evidence that trust and perceived risk, as well as specific motivational factors influence the customers’ intention to engage in drone deliveries. Further, our paper encourages researchers, designers, and developers to build the respective IS including the expectations of future drone users. Therefore, academic and practical implications are discussed

Why Is It So Difficult to Evaluate Nursing Interventions in Dementia?

Two recent health technology assessment (HTA) reports published in Germany focused on non-pharmacological interventions for patients with dementia. One of the major results was the poor methodological quality of the studies in this field. This paper concisely presents the main quantitative and qualitative findings of the HTA report published by the German Agency for HTA at the Institute of Medical Information and Documentation (dahta@DIMDI), followed by a detailed discussion of the major methodological problems observed for the inclusion criteria, interventions, the setting, number of patients included, duration of observation, comparators, clinical endpoints, health economics, and, most obvious, the impossibility of blinding and eliminating placebo effects for future clinical studies. We conclude with several suggestions addressing these challenges for future research in this field

Quality of Life as an outcome in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias- obstacles and goals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The number of individuals at risk for dementia will probably increase in ageing societies as will the array of preventive and therapeutic options, both however within limited economic resources. For economic and medical purposes valid instruments are required to assess disease processes and the efficacy of therapeutic interventions for different forms and stages of illness. In principal, the impact of illness and success of an intervention can be assessed with biomedical variables, e.g. severity of symptoms or frequency of complications of a disease. However, this does not allow clear judgement on clinical relevance or comparison across different diseases.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Outcome model variables such as quality of life (QoL) or health care resource utilization require the patient to appraise their own well-being or third parties to set preferences. In Alzheimer's disease and other dementias the evaluation process performed by the patient is subject to the disease process itself because over progress of the disease neuroanatomical structures are affected that mediate evaluation processes.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>Published research and methodological considerations thus lead to the conclusion that current QoL-instruments, which have been useful in other contexts, are ill-suited and insufficiently validated to play a major role in dementia research, decision making and resource allocation. New models integrating biomedical and outcome variables need to be developed in order to meet the upcoming medical and economic challenges.</p

What Matters Most on non-monetary Sharing Economy Platforms? Social Motives vs. Financial Motives (Pretest)

The sharing economy is continuously changing the hospitality industry while competing with incumbent businesses over the available market share. This pretest examines the social peer-to-peer renting service CouchSurfing. In particular, we plan to investigate how social motives, financial motives, and trust influence the users’ intentions to request a booking on the CouchSurfing platform. Understanding the implications of social motives and financial motives is important, for both platform providers and researchers investigating the social sharing economy. In this pretest, we develop a questionnaire for assessing the influence of the respective motivational factor on the travelers’ intentions. Our pretest employs survey data and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify underlying relationships between our variables and to prepare a clean structural equation modeling (SEM). Hence, the main goal of this pretest is to validate the measurement model

The Implications of Trust in the Sharing Economy – An Empirical Analysis of Uber

Modern technologies, including mobile applications and Internet-based platforms, continuously foster the rise of the sharing economy. In this paper, we focus on Uber, a ridesharing platform that is one of the fastest growing startups worldwide. We take the perspective of a potential customer and investigate the implications of trust. In particular, we modify a research model by Gefen (2000) and investigate the influence of trust on the customers’ intentions: ‘Inquire about drivers’ and ‘Request a ride’. In this regard, we differentiate between ‘Trust in Uber’ and ‘Trust in drivers’, while incorporating the two antecedents: ‘Disposition to trust’ and ‘Familiarity with Uber’. The study employs survey data (n = 221) and structural equation modeling (CB SEM). Our results provide empirical evidence that ‘Trust in Uber’ influences the customers’ intentions, whereas the influence of ‘Trust in drivers’ is insignificant

The Influence of Financial and Social Motives in the Sharing Economy: An Empirical Analysis on Airbnb

The motivation to share has lately been investigated in the sharing economy literature. This study extends this literature by exploring the role of economic and social drivers from the accommodation providers’ perspective on the sharing economy platform Airbnb. In doing so, we contribute to the sharing economy literature by compartmentalizing the two-sided consumer market. Furthermore, we respond to the emerging call for understanding the motivational factors under which trust operates in the sharing economy context. Specifically, this article introduces two key moderators, financial motives and social motives, to the relationship between trust and the intention to share an accommodation. Drawing on the theory of trust and based on a dataset of 203 participants, we find that financial motives positively moderate the relationship between trust in renters and the intention to share an accommodation, whereas social motives show no significant influence on the same relationship