Consumers’ trust in the sharing economy

dc.contributor.advisorChipp, Kerry
dc.contributor.coadvisorMthombeni, Morris
dc.contributor.emailichelp@gibs.co.za
dc.contributor.postgraduateRamphal, Avikaar
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-22T12:29:20Z
dc.date.available2021-06-22T12:29:20Z
dc.date.created2021/04/14
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionMini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
dc.description.abstractThe sharing economy (SE) challenges consumers to participate in services characterised by information asymmetry, heterogeneous quality and risks of interacting with strangers who are consumers themselves, rather than traditional firms. Hence, the functioning of the SE requires consumers to trust the individual service provider and the platform facilitating the service. Reputation systems help signal quality and reduce information asymmetries. Platforms employ systems for consumers to rate service providers on a scale from 1 to 5 stars. Correspondingly, independent regulatory bodies rate the quality of a service provider’s establishment on a similar numeric scale—something unique to the short-term accommodation sector. In addition, the platform brand also conveys certain characteristics of the structural assurance of the SE platform. Through an online survey, 635 respondents were exposed to a between-subjects experimental vignette that altered the level of platform reputation and independent reputation systems. The resultant covariance-based structural equation modelling analysis revealed that: (i) consumers’ trust in service providers was heavily influenced by platform reputation systems, rather than independent reputation systems, (ii) platform reputation systems were more effective in building trust at higher levels, underscoring the prevalence of a higher rating floor, (iii) independent reputation systems were not statistically significant in influencing trust in the service providers, (iv) trust in the platform was significantly influenced by the platform brand, (v) trust in the service provider played a bigger role in influencing consumers’ propensity to participate in the SE, relative to trust in the platform, and (vi) trust in the service provider and trust in the platform partially mediated consumers’ propensity to participate in the SE.
dc.description.availabilityUnrestricted
dc.description.degreeMPhil
dc.description.departmentGordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
dc.identifier.citationRamphal, A 2020, Consumers’ trust in the sharing economy, MPhil Mini Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/80507>
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/80507
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Pretoria
dc.rights© 2021 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
dc.subjectUCTD
dc.titleConsumers’ trust in the sharing economy
dc.typeMini Dissertation

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