Towards an Understanding of the Indian Tourist Buying Airbnb Services

Swati Sharma

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:279807 • DOI: 10.4018/IJABIM.20210701.oa1

The business ecosystem has changed drastically. Advances in information technology, access to the internet, and pervasive use of mobile phones have given a spurt to various new age businesses adopting new business models. The empirical paper identifies the room sharing company as a new age platform business model. The study proposes and tests a conceptual model to study the factors influencing the consumers' attitudes towards Airbnb and their intention to purchase the services of Airbnb. The findings reveal that hedonistic values, social values, and financial value, along with e-word of mouth have a direct impact on consumers' attitudes towards Airbnb. Existing available literature is largely in the Western context and qualitative in nature. This paper is unique as it adopts a quantitative approach and provides insight about what really influences the consumers' attitudes towards this new and unique business model, thus enabling marketers to strategize accordingly.

Global Business Business and Management Global Business