P2P Platform Performances in Global Crisis: The Role of Hypothetical, Social Distance, and Host Characteristics

Adopting a construal-level theory approach, we investigate the impact of hypothetical distance on P2P performance, and the moderation effect of social distance, hosts' experience and reputation. The study analyzes 58,140 Airbnbs between 2019 and 2020 on a monthly basis adopting a similar difference-in-difference (DID) methodology. The findings show that per each percentage increase in local COVID-19 spread, occupation rate and revenues per available nights decline by 0.70 percentage points and 0.63$, confirming the negative direct effect of hypothetical distance. Complementarily we find that this negative effect was reduced by high social distance. Furthermore, we also show that hosts' experience and reputation positively moderate the negative effects of a global crisis on P2P performance.