Understanding the Factors Affecting Purchase Intention for Peer to Peer Rental Accommodation Services: A Study of the Developing Economy

Abstract

Purpose: Shared accommodation services are becoming increasingly popular worldwide and have become a threat for the traditional hotel industry. The model for such services include a host sharing space in his house with guests at a much lower rate compared to traditional hotels. This becomes possible because of the presence of technological digital platforms, which intermediate this process of sharing. A number of different antecedents for Intention to use shared accommodation were before in previous research studies. However, most of the research was conducted in developed economies and such research in the context of developing economies is scarce. These economies are very different in terms of attitudes of consumers and their perceived level of risk since the cultural context is very different. Therefore, it made theoretical sense to test a model including the antecedents for Intention in the context of the Pakistani economy. The current research examines the role of Attitude towards shared accommodation, Perceived Risk, Self-Efficacy, Subjective Norms and Economic Benefit in affecting the Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. The present research goes one-step ahead of the previous research done in this area and examines the mediating role of Attitude and Economic Benefit to see which antecedent constructs causes variation in the Intention to use Shared Accommodation services with the mediating role of these constructs. Design/ Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted using the data collected from 127 respondents from different age groups who were familiar with the concept of shared accommodation services. The proposed theoretical model was built on the antecedents of Intention to use Shared Accommodation services and the mediating role of Attitude and Economic Benefit was also investigated. Structural Equation modeling was performed on the data, using the SmartPLS 3 software. Socio-economic and demographic variables were also investigated. Findings: 10 hypotheses were developed and tested, 7 of them were supported by the data. The statistical analysis reveals that Attitude towards Shared Accommodation, Subjective Norms and Economic Benefit result in statistically significant variation in Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. Furthermore, Attitudes mediate the relationship between Subjective Norms and Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. Attitude also mediates the relationship between Perceived Economic Benefit and Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. Furthermore, it was found that Income moderates the relationship between Self Efficacy and Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. Contribution of the research: The current research is a pioneer study in investigating the antecedents for Intention to use Shared Accommodation services in the Pakistani context. The current study also theorizes the partial and full mediation of Perceived Economic Benefit and Subjective Norms and gives a better insight and superior understanding to why people develop an Intention to use Shared Accommodation services. Managerial/Social implications: The study gives useful insights to platforms providing shared accommodation services regarding marketing and advertising their services. The policy makers need to focus on the role of influencers while advertising since consumers look up to the important people within their groups while making decisions regarding using such services