Exploring service quality among online sharing economy platforms from an online media perspective

Abstract

The sharing economy has become a new socioeconomic activity that allows the co-creation, production, distribution and consumption of goods and services between individuals, driven by Web 2.0 and e-word of mouth. How these online platforms communicate their content is critical. This paper seeks to develop a scale for measuring the perceived quality of websites that offer information about sharing economy services focused on online peer-to-peer accommodation. The resulting model is validated by means of structural equations and is composed of four dimensions (efficiency; reliability, privacy/security; and communication). The influence that perceived quality exerts on satisfaction and loyalty is then explored from an online media perspective. A scale resulting from the combination of these two areas of knowledge (online media and e-service quality) may take advantage of the more beneficial features they have to offer and provide us with as balanced and convergent a model as possible. The results of the study show that all of the initial hypotheses are confirmed except one. Efficiency, reliability and privacy/security positively influence the perceived quality of a collaborative accommodation portal, whereas communication does not.