The effects of consumer animosity on demand for sharing-based accommodations: Evidence from Airbnb

Abstract Online home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, have recently become increasingly popular among travelers, including outbound travelers. This study investigates the impact of consumer animosity, a determinant of consumers' purchase decisions in international businesses, on outbound travelers' demand for sharing-based accommodations. In particular, we examine the differential effects of two types of consumer animosity: economic animosity and war animosity. Utilizing a unique geopolitical environment where Chinese consumers bear economic animosity (towards South Korea) and war animosity (towards Japan), we collected a comprehensive panel data set including listings and reviews from Airbnb, together with a list of events inducing animosity. Utilizing the events as exogenous shocks, we applied difference-in-differences (DID) approach to infer the causal effect of consumer animosity on Chinese outbound travelers' demand for sharing-based accommodations. Contrary to the extant studies which mostly show a negative effect of consumer animosity on purchase intentions, we find that consumer's economic animosity is likely to have a positive effect on outbound travelers' decisions in the context of sharing-based accommodations. However, war animosity has limited effect on outbound travelers' decisions. Further, such effects of consumer animosity are negatively moderated by the intensity level of events inducing animosity. As the intensity increases, both war animosity and economic animosity will ultimately have a negative effect on consumers' Airbnb booking decisions. This study contributes to the fast-growing literature focusing on various factors affecting consumers' booking decisions on online home-sharing platforms. Our results also provide important practical implications for online home-sharing platforms.