Trust Building in the Sharing Economy: Proposition and Test of an Integrated Model

The objective of the study is to propose and test an integrated model to explain how trust is built in sharing economy transactions. Initially, prior literature was systematically selected and synthesized to develop a comprehensive framework applicable to multiple trust-building perspectives and categories of sharing economy platforms. Then, a survey was conducted to validate the constructs and test the model with Airbnb guests. A sample of 351 responses was collected and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. As a result, the study provides evidence that Third-Party Evaluation, First-Party Interaction, and Social Motivation do have a significant role in driving Trust. In addition, it was found that the strength of these effects is moderated by the respondent's Propensity to Trust.