Airbnb consumers’ notions of responsibility and cooperation : an integrative framework of NAM and SDT.

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Theses / Dissertations
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Thesis discipline
Marketing
Degree name
Doctor of Philosophy
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Date
2022
Authors
Zarakhsh, Shayan
Abstract

Airbnb’s negative economic, social, and environmental impacts are well acknowledged in the literature. Despite the proliferation of research attempting to understand tourists’ socio-environmentally responsible behaviours with a view to improve tourism sustainability, such endeavour is hardly evident in Airbnb research. Drawing on the triple bottom line (TBL) framework of sustainability, and an integrative theoretical framework of norm activation model (NAM) and social dilemma theory (SDT), this study seeks to understand how Airbnb consumers’ (guests) awareness of the negative economic, social-cultural, and environmental impacts of Airbnb influences their responsibility and intention to cooperate in mitigating these impacts. To this end, adopting an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, the study proposes a comprehensive conceptual model that is evaluated first using a qualitative phase, which allows for model refinement followed by a quantitative phase which tests the revised model through a national survey of Airbnb users in New Zealand. Qualitative data is collected from semi-structured interviews with 17 Airbnb consumers and thematically analysed. Quantitative data is collected from a sample of 500 Airbnb consumers and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest two potential ways in which Airbnb consumers would cooperate to mitigate the negative impacts of Airbnb: participating in activities against the use of Airbnb (i.e., use avoidance cooperation), or using Airbnb responsibly (i.e., responsible use cooperation). As for use avoidance cooperation, the results show that Airbnb consumers’ awareness of the negative impacts, ascription of responsibility, perceived efficacy in making useful contributions to solve the impacts, and expectation of other consumers’ cooperation positively and significantly affect their personal norms (a sense of responsibility/moral obligation) to cooperate, with the latter playing a significant role in predicting cooperation intention. In addition to personal norms, ascription of responsibility and product (Airbnb) preference are also directly related to cooperation intention with Airbnb preference representing the cost of, thus, a barrier to cooperation. With regard to responsible use cooperation, on the other hand, ascription of responsibility is the only factor that positively and significantly affects personal norms and personal norms is the only factor that positively and significantly influences cooperation intention. This study contributes to Airbnb literature by providing insights into how Airbnb consumers would cooperate in mitigating the negative economic and socio-environmental impacts of Airbnb, a nascent area of research. The study also contributes to this literature theoretically and methodologically through the application of an integrative framework of NAM and SDT, and a mixed-methods approach, highlighting various pathways to cooperation. Practical implications for marketing, customer experience management, Airbnb accommodation providers, Airbnb platform/company, and policy makers are also provided.

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