Trust and tolerance in online hospitality networks

Resumen

Present research deals with one kind of social networks used by travellers who want to stay during their travel at homes of local people rather than in a hotel or a hostel. Hospitality exchange online services like Couchsurfing, Hospitality Club or BeWelcome are used as mediators for organisation of accommodation without any financial benefit for the hosting side. Couchsurfing network is in the focus of the research. As an SNS whose functionality entirely grounded on the trustworthiness and trustfulness of its members, Couchsurfing is a particularly interesting subject for the study of online trust. The main aim of the thesis is to understand how the participation in the network affects individual trust and tolerance towards representatives of other cultures and whether these effects are related to the amount of time devoted to participation in the hospitality networks. Data for the research were collected in an online survey, distributed among Couchsurfing.org users and control group of those who have never used hospitality SNSs. Survey included both quantitative and open-ended questions used to measure trust and tolerance indexes of the participants. The datasets obtained from network’s users and non-users were subsequently compared to evaluate differences. As the results of the research, participation in hospitality social networks was found to be associated with higher levels of generalised trust, when members of the Couchsurfing showed higher trust compared to people who never used this network. Difference of tolerance between users and non-users was found to be marginal. The amount of the experience using the network affected individual trust, thus people who used the network longer were found to be more trusting. The thesis provides an insight into the way participation in online hospitality networks affects trust and tolerance of the individuals and contributes to the growing body of research on online trust and tolerance.