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When Hosts Trust Guests and Sharing Platforms: Trust in Sharing Economy

ABSTRACT The peer-to-peer accommodation business has become an important topic in tourism. While the sharing economy relies heavily on peer-to-peer interactions, understanding of this new form of business from the host perspective is still developing. Further, the study argues that the majority of existing studies have often primarily concentrated on Airbnb and therefore limit our understanding of the sharing economy. This study employs a sociological perspective to understand trust through the lens of Chinese hosts and their dynamic interactions with sharing platforms beyond Airbnb. Drawing on in-depth interviews, this qualitative study explores the complexities involved in hosts’ interpersonal and institutional trusting relationships. A conceptual appraisal of the concept of trust in the Chinese context informs the empirical work. Specifically, the study identifies different types of hosts and how their way of being a host shapes their trust behaviors to both sharing platforms and guests.