Understanding Users' Multi-Homing Intention on Peer-to-Peer Accommodation Platforms

An intriguing phenomenon in short-term accommodation market is that most users would adopt more than one accommodation platforms simultaneously, instead of being committed to utilizing only one platform. However, little attention has been paid to the underlying mechanisms about why users employ multiple accommodation platforms concurrently. To bridge the research gap, this study proposes a research model to investigate users' multi-homing intention on accommodation platforms by combining benefit-cost framework, social influence and need for cognition theory. This model is tested using data collected from 437 users who have ever used multiple accommodation platforms. Analytical results indicate that perceived information complementarity and decision complementarity contribute to users' multi-homing intention. Social influence and need for cognition have significant positive effects on the intention. Moreover, seeking cost decreases users' intention to adopt several competing platforms at the same time, while integration cost promotes the intention. At the end, implications for research and practice as well as limitations of this study are discussed.