숙박공유 플랫폼 서비스의 서비스 공급자 특성이 사용자의 만족감에 미치는 영향 : 에어비앤비(Airbnb) 호스트 주체를 중심으로

The Impacts of Characteristics of Airbnb Host on User Satisfactions

Purpose Along with increasing use of mobile devices, the sharing economy platform services, which generate profits by sharing products owned or labor, have been activated. A representative example of the sharing economy platform service is Airbnb, which connects providers having idle residential space with users. The results revealed that the cases of superhosts and professional companies had a positive and negative effect on user satisfaction, respectively. Based on signaling theory, this study drew the following implications: residential space providers should make an effort to meet the superhost conditions suggested by Airbnb, and offering residential spaces by individual suppliers rather than professional accommodation companies can more heighten user satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Because sharing behavior is promoted through trust between interested parties, this study aimed to verify the effects of provider characteristics on user satisfaction in a sharing economy platform service. Specifically, it analyzed user satisfaction, according to host attributes (i.e., "superhost or not," gender, and "professional company or not") among the characteristics of Airbnb suppliers. Findings The results revealed that the cases of superhosts and professional companies had a positive and negative effect on user satisfaction, respectively. Based on these analyses results, this study drew the following implications: residential space providers should make an effort to meet the superhost conditions suggested by Airbnb, and offering residential spaces by individual suppliers rather than professional accommodation companies can more heighten user satisfaction.