The Conceptualization of Perceived Risk for Potential Sellers in the Shared Economy : With a scope on Airbnb users to become a host of their own residence on Airbnb’s platform

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to develop a conceptualized model, which identifies the significant variables of perceived risk for current Airbnb users towards becoming a host of their own residence on Airbnb’s platform. There is a lack of information concerning the host’s risk perception to cross the trust barrier in order to become a host on Airbnb (Ter Huurne, et al., 2017). For Airbnb it is of significant importance to provide new residences since it contributes to the growth of its platform. Likewise, it applies to managing potential risks in order to generate a positive vicious circle with the absence of trusted authorities or third parties (Wu, et al., 2017). Methods A new applicable model was constructed that served as the conceptual framework for this thesis. The model consists of twelve variables, where each variable has a possible influence on the overall perceived risk for Airbnb users to become a host of their own residence on Airbnb’s platform. The survey embodied the perceived risk variables and applied a predetermined set of answers. A prerequisite was that the respondents were familiar with the platform Airbnb by having a registered account. Findings There was found to be a discrepancy between millennials’ and non-millennials’ perception of risk. Millennials found financial risk, privacy risk (payment), social risk (neighbours), physical risk, and lack of control risk to be significant. Non-millennials found performance risk, privacy risk (in-house), and lack of control risk to be significant. Both models showed that the variable ‘lack of control’ was the biggest influencer on overall perceived risk. The results also indicate that millennials are more susceptible to let financial benefits outweigh their perceived risk in comparison to non-millennials, whereas social benefits are perceived similarly. On a last note, non-millennials’ overall risk perception was found to be considerably higher than for millennials. Implications The results present a conceptual model that is based on perceived risk for e-commerce (Featherman & Pavlou, 2003). Moreover, this conceptual model added the components physical risk (Jacoby & Kaplan, 1972) and lack of control risk (Das & Teng, 2004) in order to identify overall perceived risk for Airbnb users to become a host of their own residence on Airbnb’s platform.