Blog · Sharing economy
Beyond a single trust score: competence, benevolence and integrity on peer-to-peer platforms
Read the article on the publisher's website
Trust is a multidimensional concept made of competence, benevolence and integrity, yet most studies measure it with a single, unidimensional scale. In an article in the Journal of Travel Research, Raffaele Filieri, Fabienne Chameroy and I unpack trust on peer-to-peer platforms dimension by dimension.
What we did
Drawing on the Trust Transfer Model, we examined how different dimensions of trust in a digital platform, dual-role users (people who act both as host and guest) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) influence trust in peer-to-peer hosts. We tested our hypotheses with a survey of 894 Airbnb users.
What we found
- Competence and CSR come first. Competence-based trust in the platform and the platform's CSR strongly influence trust in hosts; integrity has a weaker effect.
- Benevolence only matters for dual-role users. Its effect on host trust is significant only for users who have been both host and guest.
- CSR matters most for single-role users. The effect of CSR on host trust is stronger for users who have only played one role.
- Host trust drives satisfaction. Trust in the host mediates the relationship between platform trusting beliefs and customer satisfaction.
Which dimension of trust matters depends on which side of the exchange users have experienced.
Implications
Peer-to-peer organizations and service providers should manage trust as a set of distinct beliefs rather than a single score, and adapt their trust signals to whether users have experienced one or both sides of the platform. This work extends our earlier research on interchangeability and trust.