Systematic online trust building: Progressive effects of self-presentation strategies in peer-to-peer accommodation

Abstract

Developing consumer trust in peer-to-peer accommodation has been challenging and complex. One of the main reasons for the lack of consumer trust is information asymmetry, which requires the hosts to provide comprehensive information to facilitate trust-building. While research has studied various trust-building elements and tactics, their effects have been examined independently, with limited understanding of their cumulative effects. Integrating signaling theory, uncertainty reduction theory, and social penetration theory, this research advocates trust-building as a layered and progressive process and proposes a triple-layer hierarchical framework that elucidates the incremental effects of informational, emotional, and social-relational self-presentation strategies. Using a series of step-up experiments conducted in verbal and non-verbal communication contexts, we demonstrate how the sequential introduction of three self-presentation strategies shapes purchase intention through progressive trust-building. An integrated framework that explains how the systematic integration of self-presentation tactics consolidates consumer trust is presented. Strategies for optimizing self-presentation for hosts are discussed.