Trust and discrimination in digital platforms: Evidence from Airbnb

ABSTRACT In this talk, I will present a series of studies that examine the influence of hosts’ attributes on consumer behavior on the peer-to-peer digital platform Airbnb.  The findings show that certain host attributes, as revealed by their personal photos, shape perceptions of trustworthiness and influence prices and transactions. At the same time, these photos reveal characteristics (e.g., gender, age) that might facilitate discrimination. The studies explore how visual attributes embedded in hosts’ profile photos contribute to online trust formation, and assess their relation to the (limited) effect of reputation as conveyed by the hosts’ ratings. If time permits, I will also present evidence regarding the potential existence of a “gender earnings gap” among Airbnb hosts.