Understanding trust and perceived risk in sharing accommodation: an extended elaboration likelihood model and moderated by risk attitude

ABSTRACT Facing the rapid expansion of the sharing economy, it is essential to understand the trusting mechanism in the P2P sector and its consequence on the perceived risks. This study extends the elaboration likelihood model to explore the relationships among argument quality, source credibility, trust, risk perception, and behavioral intention in the sharing economy context. The proposed theoretical framework has been tested with a survey targeting the younger generation in China. The results suggest that both the central route (i.e., argument quality) and peripheral route (i.e., source credibility) in the information processing positively affect trust. Trust is positively associated with behavioral intentions, while risk perceptions have a negative effect. Besides, a significant effect of trust was found on risk perceptions. The moderating effect of risk attitudes was further uncovered through model comparison. Moreover, the usefulness of risk relievers differs across three groups of tourists with different risk attitudes.