Curiosity or Certainty?: A Qualitative, Comparative Analysis of Couchsurfing and Airbnb User Behaviors

Abstract

This study compares user behaviors of non-monetary and monetary sharing economy services, respectively represented by Couchsurfing and Airbnb. Semi-structured interviews from six Couchsurfing and six Airbnb host users are comparatively analyzed via inductive content analyses and bottom-up affinity diagramming. This paper studies the early stages of both Couchsurfing and Airbnb users' service use: 1) writing a profile and room description, 2) receiving messages from a guest, and 3) verifying a guest user's identity. Couchsurfing hosts use these stages as a supportive friendship-forming tool to satisfy their curiosity regarding their guests, while Airbnb hosts use them for certainty and risk aversion. This study may help to generate design implications for non-monetary platforms, such as providing continuous communication tools for host users' process to verify guests' identities.