Empirical Study on Behavioral Intentions of Short-Term Rental Tenants—The Moderating Role of Past Experience

Existing sharing economy (SE) studies tend to focus on the nature of SEs, their business models, and impact. However, there are limited in-depth studies on what motivates consumers’ participation in sustainable SE context, particularly in short-term rentals involving safety risks arising from face-to-face engagement with strangers while consuming the services. Applying the perceived value theory and extended theory of planned behavior, this study examines the relationships among consumers’ perceived value (gain versus loss), past experience , and behavioral intentions in sustainable consumption of short-term rentals offered on smart online matching platforms. Based on a survey of 421 Chinese consumers, our study has demonstrated that social appeal and economic appeal (gains) are positively related to behavioral intentions . Second, we establish that the relationship between perceived risk (loss) and behavioral intentions is inverted U-shaped, enriching the existing literature which has assumed a linear relationship. Finally, our study shows that past experience positively moderates the influence of social appeal on behavioral intentions . This suggests that, compared with consumers having little or no past experience , the positive relationship between social appeal and behavioral intentions is stronger for consumers having much past experience . On the other hand, past experience has no effect on the relationship between economic appeal and behavioral intentions.