The overlooked and hidden consequences of inequitable reviews in home-sharing services

Purpose Online marketplace platforms, such as Airbnb, depend on a symmetrical (or two-sided) review system, where hosts and guests can help each other build reputations as trustworthy and desirable exchange partners. This study aims to explore the hidden consequences of the exchange review system when one partner submits a relatively minimal review, leading to an unequal review effort exchange. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted to manipulate the amount of post-exchange review effort respondents provided compared to the amount they received from their exchange partner. Student and general market panel data from Cloud Research were used. Findings Receiving an unequal review effort exchange can cause perceived inequity, leading to increased cognitive dissonance. This results in unfavorable outcomes, including negative word-of-mouth (NWOM), a lower likelihood of engaging with the exchange partner in the future, a lower probability of engaging in the sharing economy and a greater likelihood of spending less effort on future reviews. Thus, both the exchange partners (hosts and guests) and the home-sharing platform are affected. Trait reciprocity moderates the effect. Practical implications Failure to participate adequately in this secondary social exchange may cause hidden negative outcomes for the exchange partners and the online marketplace platforms that facilitate the connection. Originality/value While others have investigated how guests use reviews to make decisions, this research fills a gap in the literature by exploring how exchange partners respond to receiving an unequal review effort exchange to affect important outcome variables.