While touting its distinctiveness from conventional hotels, Airbnb listings are appearing increasingly like hotels with professional features such as “instant booking” and “work collection” distinction. Does such isomorphism provide a financial advantage to Airbnb? Using large-scale Airbnb trajectory data from 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas over 3 years, we find superior financial performance for Airbnb listings that imitate hotels compared with those that do not. Yet, as more Airbnb listings enter a local market, the performance-driving advantage of work collection is attenuated while instant booking becomes stronger. Suggestions for future research regarding a legitimacy-tipping point in institutional theory are provided.
BarretoI.Baden-FullerC. (2006). To conform or to perform? Mimetic behaviour, legitimacy-based groups and performance consequences. Journal of Management Studies, 43(7), 1559-1581. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00620.x
2.
BaumJ. A. C.MeziasS. J. (1992). Localized competition and organizational failure in the Manhattan hotel industry, 1898-1990. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37(4), 580-604. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393473
3.
BennerK. (2017, June17). Airbnb tries to behave more like a hotel. New York Times, BU1.
4.
ChengM.FoleyC. (2018). The sharing economy and digital discrimination: The case of Airbnb. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 70, 95-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.11.002
DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147-160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
7.
DiMaggioP. J.PowellW. W. (1991). Introduction. In PowellW. W.DiMaggioP. J. (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 1-38). University of Chicago Press.
8.
DurandR.KrempP. A. (2016). Classical deviation: Organizational and individual status as antecedents of conformity. Academy of Management Journal, 59(1), 65-89. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0767
9.
EdelmanB.LucaM.SvirskyD. (2017). Racial discrimination in the sharing economy: Evidence from a field experiment. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9(2), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160213
GrevesH. R. (2002). An ecological theory of spatial evolution: Local density dependence in Tokyo banking, 1894-1936. Social Forces, 80(3), 847-879. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2002.0006
12.
GuttentagD. (2015). Airbnb: Disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(12), 1192-1217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.827159
13.
GuttentagD.SmithS.PotwarkaL.HavitzM. (2017). Why tourists choose Airbnb: A motivation-based segmentation study. Journal of Travel Research, 57(3), 342-359. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517696980
14.
HannanM. T.CarrollG. R. (1992). The dynamics of organizational populations. Oxford University Press.
15.
HavemanH. (1993). Follow the leader: Mimetic isomorphism and entry into new markets. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(4), 593-627. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393338
LiH.SrinivasanK. (2019). Competitive dynamics in the sharing economy: An analysis in the context of Airbnb and hotels. Marketing Science, 38(3), 365-391. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2018.1143
18.
ModyM.HanksL.DogruT. (2019). Parallel pathways to brand loyalty: Mapping the consequences of authentic consumption experiences for hotels and Airbnb. Tourism Management, 74, 65-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.02.013
19.
PorterM. E. (1996). What is strategy?Harvard Business Review, 74, 61-78.
20.
RheeM.KimY.-C.HanJ. (2006). Confidence in imitation: Niche-width strategy in the UK automobile industry. Management Science, 52(4), 501-513. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0494
21.
SalomonR.WuZ. (2012). Institutional distance and local isomorphism. Journal of International Business Studies, 43(4), 343-367. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2012.3
22.
TussyadiahI. P. (2016). Factors of satisfaction and intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 55, 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.03.005
23.
TussyadiahI. P.PesonenJ. (2017). Impacts of peer-to-peer accommodation use on travel patterns. Journal of Travel Research, 55(8), 1022-1040. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287515608505
24.
WangD.NicolauJ. L. (2017). Price determinants of sharing economy based accommodation rental: A study of listings from 33 cities on Airbnb.com. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 62, 120-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.12.007
ZervasG.ProserpioD.ByersJ. W. (2017). The rise of the sharing economy: Estimating the impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(5), 687-705. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.15.0204
27.
ZhaoE. Y.FisherG.LounsburyM.MillerD. (2017). Optimal distinctiveness: Broadening the interface between institutional theory and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), 93-113. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2589
