‘Home and away: Why do consumers shy away from reporting negative experiences in the peer to peer realms?’.

Abstract

Consumers of the collaborative platforms such as Airbnb assess their overall experiences not only from their perceptions of its quality, but also from the perceptions of home that they bring with them. This study investigates how customers use their construct of ‘home’ in perceiving their experience in peer-to-peer rented accommodation, as opposed to traditional hotels, that could lead to bias in their reviews. The literature has paid considerable attention to people’s perceptions of destinations, but almost none to their perceptions of ‘home’ and its complexities whilst visiting a destination. This paper examines relationships between the concepts of ‘home’ or ‘here’ represented in peer to peer accommodation and the construct of ‘away’ or ‘there’ represented in traditional hotels. The literature dealing with concepts of ‘here’, ‘there’, closest to the notions of home and away, is reviewed in an attempt to understand whether the notion of home shapes the experience and affects the reporting behaviour of consumers using peer to peer accommodation. This paper uses mixed methods to determine the existence of bias in reporting behaviour then explores its underlying motivations. Key findings indicate that there is a consistent review gap between institutional actors and peer to peer actors. Also, consumers of peer-to-peer accommodation prefer not to engage in negative reporting if a bond with the host is developed. Moreover, their perception of home shapes their relationship with the host and leads to reporting bias. This paper provides clear theoretical insights to advance our knowledge about the underlying motives behind reporting behaviour of negative experiences. Furthermore, it offers practical implications for both institutional and peer-to-peer contexts.