Abstract Via the empirical evidences from Airbnb from eight major cities in U.S., we examine the role of information disclosure in influencing consumers' purchase behavior on this sharing economy platform. We analyze information disclosure from four aspects – namely, what information (i.e., information content), from where (i.e., information source), in what format (information presentation format), and how much (the quantity of information). We find all three information sources – providers, platform, and peer consumers – influence consumer purchase behavior. Regarding information posted by providers, we find a concave relationship between room information (i.e. the number of photos and the length of description) and consumer purchase behavior. However, no significant relationship between providers' self-description (texts and photos) and consumer purchase behavior is found. Regarding information posted by platform, both the recommendation from platform and provider verification information positively influence consumer purchase behavior. For provider-consumer interactions information, the providers' high response rate and fast response speed enhance consumer purchase behavior. However, providing connections to providers' social media profiles negatively influences consumers' purchasing behavior. Regarding the information from peer consumers, we find although consumers' overall ratings positively affect consumer purchase behavior, such influence diminishes when the ratings exceed certain thresholds. Our study provides implications for platform owners to optimize information presentation layout directly through the platform design or indirectly through the guidance to the providers' information disclosure to facilitate consumers’ information search and acquisition to reduce the perceived risk, enhance trust on providers and the platform, and thus enhance their purchase intention and behavior.

中文翻译：

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共享经济平台Airbnb信息披露对消费者购买行为的影响

摘要 通过来自美国 8 个主要城市的 Airbnb 的经验证据，我们研究了信息披露在影响消费者在这个共享经济平台上的购买行为中的作用。我们从四个方面来分析信息披露——即信息是什么（即信息内容）、从何而来（即信息来源）、以何种形式（信息呈现形式）和多少（信息量）。我们发现所有三个信息源——提供商、平台和同行消费者——都会影响消费者的购买行为。对于供应商发布的信息，我们发现房间信息（即照片数量和描述长度）与消费者购买行为之间存在凹关系。但是，提供者之间没有显着关系 自我描述（文字和照片）和消费者购买行为被发现。对于平台发布的信息，平台的推荐和提供商验证信息都对消费者的购买行为产生积极影响。对于供应商-消费者交互信息，供应商的高响应率和快速响应速度增强了消费者的购买行为。然而，提供与供应商社交媒体资料的联系会对消费者的购买行为产生负面影响。对于来自同行消费者的信息，我们发现虽然消费者的整体评分对消费者购买行为有积极影响，但当评分超过一定阈值时，这种影响会减弱。