Combating implicit racial bias against hosts in peer-to-peer marketplaces: Insights from availability bias and self-disclosure theory

Implicit racial bias, a type of unconscious bias that accelerates one's decision-making, is critically prevalent on peer-to-peer marketplaces like Airbnb because one's race is easily identifiable through the profiles that people share online. Although implicit racial bias can occur in both directions between guests and hosts during the transactional process, where either party may be treated unfairly, most efforts to date have focused on protecting "guests". Therefore, this study specifically sheds light on implicit racial bias against "hosts" on Airbnb and further explores moderating variables that may mitigate such bias, drawing on availability bias and self-disclosure theory. Through a series of two experiments, the results show that more reviews and host self-disclosure can mitigate implicit racial bias against hosts. This study provides novel insights into peer-to-peer marketplaces by demonstrating not only the existence of implicit bias, but also how such bias can be mitigated to promote social justice.