Attitudes of users and non-users towards Airbnb

Abstract

The concept of sharing unused space/capacity temporarily with other customers, mostly for money, has obtained increasing attention due to it’s potential to promote sustainable lifestyles. Globally, the sharing economy was USD 15bn in 2014 and it is expected to reach USD 335bn by 2025. The growth of this industry is fuelled by the increased urbanisation, internet usage and due to the benefits offered such as low renting & maintenance costs. The scope of our study is peer to peer accommodation sharing in Indian context with a focus on Airbnb. As part of the CCS, two groups have been identified for the study - Users and non-users of Airbnb. This study focusses on understanding the attitudes of both the groups towards Airbnb and providing recommendations for it’s increased usage in the Indian context. The study starts with extensive literature survey, focussed on understanding the current research that has been done in the space worldwide. Through the literature survey, the attributes that most influence the attitudes were derived, which served as a base for the next step of the study. The identified sub factors were bucketed into different 18 factors, which were used to design a questionnaire to understand the attitudes of the users and non-users towards Airbnb. The survey questionnaire used a 7-point semantic differential scale for both the groups to provide ratings for questions on each of the factors. There was a total of 106 responses, out of which 65 respondents were users and 41 respondents were non-users. The respondents were students pursuing post-graduation degree in management in the age group of 18-30 yrs. Post the survey, the responses were analysed using single and two sample z tests to obtain inferences. Some of the factors that were rating high by the users include attitude towards host, website, service quality etc. Airbnb is performing well on these factors. The factors where Airbnb is not doing well were identified and suitable recommendations have been provided for the same.