The Non-Monetary Sharing Economy: An Example of Trust and Risk on Couchsurfing

Sharing economy platforms drive new consumption habits in the hospitality industry by attracting individuals through modern technologies and innovative business models. In this study, we examine the relationship between trust, perceived risk, and the consumers’ intention to request an accommodation on the non-monetary hospitality platform Couchsurfing. We further separate intermediary and corresponding users from each other to investigate the influence of the two-sided market mechanisms on the consumers’ intention. Based on a survey of 248 consumers, we propose a research model and perform structural equation modeling. Our results indicate that the influence of trust on the consumers’ intention is fully mediated by perceived risk. Further, our results show that perceived risk of the intermediary and the corresponding users influences the consumers’ intentions, despite the sharing service being free-of-charge. This study contributes to the sharing economy literature by demonstrating the important role of perceived risk on non-monetary sharing economy platforms