The Role of the Sharing Economy in an Island Community - A Host Perspective

Abstract

The sharing and collaborative platform services still promise to support local communities with their access to resources not otherwise attainable, and therefore extend their impact beyond the scope of large urban environments. However, may be inaccessible to certain geographical areas. Homesharing services, Airbnb and Couchsurfing, and their use on Madeira Island, where such platforms have reached critical mass. We explore the way in which hosts understand trust, both with the mediating platforms and with the guests who rent their rooms/homes. Based on preliminary analysis of interviews with local residents who are hosts for Airbnb and Couchsurfing, our results indicated a high level of trust in the platform service (i.e. damage liability) and trust in strangers (i.e. guests). We identified reasons for participation in the sharing economy and we discuss the hosts perspective on trust, the association to ease of use, the self-efficacy related to participation in the sharing economy.