Value outcomes in Airbnb as a chronotopic service

Abstract

Many types of consumption—including events, traveling, and accommodation—primarily focus on selling time in space to consumers. That is, their business model is based on charging consumers for spending time in provided spaces (or places), with prices varying depending on the type of space and how much time consumers spend in that space. Using Bakhtin’s notion of chronotopes, we develop the concept of chronotopic services to describe these types of services that primarily sell time-in-space to consumers. Airbnb is an example of a chronotopic service. In a six-year multimethod qualitative study of consumers’ experiences with Airbnb we examine how such chronotopic services occur and how they shape consumption value outcomes in Airbnb. We conceptualize chronotopic services by noting three affordances that characterize Airbnb—temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal affordances. We show how these three chronotopic affordances enable the orchestration of consumption value outcomes through heterotemporality, heterotopia, and hybridity. We contribute to services and consumer research on the role of space and time in the consumption of services by demonstrating how chronotopic affordances shape consumption outcomes and consumer experiences. This research also highlights the implications of the time-in-space aspects of chronotopic services and how value is created and destroyed because of its chronotopic nature. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the consumption of other chronotopic services and how chronotopic affordances shape other forms of consumption.