Paper Number
ICIS2025-2684
Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
Early-stage sellers on peer-to-peer platforms struggle to attract buyers due to the cold-start problem---a lack of reviews that limits their ability to establish trust. We investigate whether and how bilateral review systems alleviate it by enabling reputation to transfer across roles. Using a dataset of Airbnb listings, we exploit variation in when new hosts receive guest-side reviews (reviews earned as guests) to estimate the impact on their performance as hosts. We find that guest-side reviews increases monthly occupancy by 12.5% and booked days by 13.5%. Effects are stronger for hosts facing higher baseline uncertainty, such as racial minorities or those in high-crime neighborhoods. The effect is amplified when guest-side reviews discuss host-relevant traits, like cleanliness and communication. We show that trust in role-fluid environments is not siloed---reputation earned as a buyer can shape seller outcomes. We offer insights for early-stage sellers and for platforms designing bilateral review systems.
Recommended Citation
Maeng, Junghyun; Karamshetty, Varun; and Kwon, Hyeokkoo Eric, "Have You Walked in My Shoes? Mitigating the Cold Start Problem in Peer-to-Peer Platforms with Bilateral Reviews" (2025). ICIS 2025 Proceedings. 30.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/sharing_econ/sharing_econ/30
Have You Walked in My Shoes? Mitigating the Cold Start Problem in Peer-to-Peer Platforms with Bilateral Reviews
Early-stage sellers on peer-to-peer platforms struggle to attract buyers due to the cold-start problem---a lack of reviews that limits their ability to establish trust. We investigate whether and how bilateral review systems alleviate it by enabling reputation to transfer across roles. Using a dataset of Airbnb listings, we exploit variation in when new hosts receive guest-side reviews (reviews earned as guests) to estimate the impact on their performance as hosts. We find that guest-side reviews increases monthly occupancy by 12.5% and booked days by 13.5%. Effects are stronger for hosts facing higher baseline uncertainty, such as racial minorities or those in high-crime neighborhoods. The effect is amplified when guest-side reviews discuss host-relevant traits, like cleanliness and communication. We show that trust in role-fluid environments is not siloed---reputation earned as a buyer can shape seller outcomes. We offer insights for early-stage sellers and for platforms designing bilateral review systems.
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19-SharingEconomy