TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of guest-generated photos
T2 - Evidence from Airbnb
AU - Wang, Chenze
AU - Liu, Xiaoxiao
AU - Xiao, Zhenxin
AU - Gong, Xiang
AU - Dang, Jinming
PY - 2025/5
Y1 - 2025/5
N2 - Home-sharing platforms have evolved to allow guests to include photos along with their textual reviews. However, the impact of these guest-generated photos on property sales performance remains underexplored. From the perspective of property uncertainty, this study proposes that guest-generated photos have a complex effect on sales. Using a quasi-experiment on Airbnb, we find that guest-generated photos, on average, negatively impact property sales. Multi-method analysis of the underlying mechanisms reveals that these photos can either reduce or increase guests' perceived property uncertainty, thereby influencing sales. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analysis shows that this negative impact is exacerbated by lower-quality or indoor photos, while looser cancellation policies or high host professionalism can mitigate it. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd
AB - Home-sharing platforms have evolved to allow guests to include photos along with their textual reviews. However, the impact of these guest-generated photos on property sales performance remains underexplored. From the perspective of property uncertainty, this study proposes that guest-generated photos have a complex effect on sales. Using a quasi-experiment on Airbnb, we find that guest-generated photos, on average, negatively impact property sales. Multi-method analysis of the underlying mechanisms reveals that these photos can either reduce or increase guests' perceived property uncertainty, thereby influencing sales. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analysis shows that this negative impact is exacerbated by lower-quality or indoor photos, while looser cancellation policies or high host professionalism can mitigate it. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd
KW - Guest-generated photos
KW - Home-sharing economy
KW - Property uncertainty
KW - Quasi-experiment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=86000671023&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-86000671023&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103923
DO - 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103923
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
SN - 0160-7383
VL - 112
JO - Annals of Tourism Research
JF - Annals of Tourism Research
M1 - 103923
ER -