Research On The Influence Of Multi-interaction On Peer Engagement Behavior In Sharing Economy Platforms

Sharing economy platforms integrate bilateral actors in an interdependent and highly autonomous manner,integrating actors’ advantages and resources;hence building sharing economy business models has become an essential strategy for many companies.In this context,customers in traditional industries transform into peers from the demand side of platforms(peer customers).Their engagement behavior constitutes the premise of the platform network effect and is the basis for the platforms’ reputation mechanism and feedback system.Therefore,peer engagement behavior is crucial for the stable development of sharing economy platforms.However,the research on the driving factors and formation mechanism of peer customer engagement behavior(hereafter peer engagement behavior)on the sharing economy platform is still very limited,and managers still lack specific guidance in promoting demand-side engagement behavior.This is mainly reflected in several aspects: 1.The existing research lacks a detailed discussion on the conceptualization,driving factors and formation mechanism of the peer engagement behavior of the sharing economy platform.2.The existing research has not focused on the multi-actors and multi-interaction relationships,and fails to explore the formation process of peer engagement behavior from the perspective of the interaction between multiple actors,and fails to consider the difference between the different interaction dimensions.3.The existing research lacks analysis on the joint impact of peer-to-peer interaction and the platforms’ institutional support on peer engagement behavior.Therefore,a series of research questions are worthy of indepth exploration: Does the interaction between peer customers and peer providers(hereafter peer-to-peer interaction)promote peer engagement behavior in the sharing economy platform? What is the underlying process? Are there differences in the mechanism of different dimensions of interaction on peer engagement behavior? How does the institutional characteristic of platforms affect the above process?Given this,this research focuses on the sharing economy platform context,based on service-dominant logic and self-determination theory,exploring the formation mechanism of peer customer behavior from the perspective of interactions between multiple actors.Among them,we focus on influence process that different dimensions of peer-to-peer interactions(functional interaction and social interaction)affect the self-determined perception(sense of autonomy,competence and relatedness)and then affect the peer engagement behavior.We further consider the moderating effect of platforms’ institutional characteristics(platform intermediary)on the above influencing process.This paper combines topic modeling,survey and experimentation to test the research model and related hypotheses empirically.Study 1 uses the machine learning methods to conduct topic modeling analysis on user comments text data of a sharing accommodation platform,obtain the key topics and topic probabilities reflected in the comments,and build a multi-level mixed linear regression model.This study explored the interaction process reflected in the comments and verified the main effect in the conceptual model: the influence of the two dimensions of peerto-peer interactions on peer engagement behavior.Study 2 used the survey method and selected users of sharing accommodation platforms as research samples.We analyzed the interactive process of sharing accommodation services using recalling events and self-assessment reports and verified the influence mechanism of the research model: the mediating effect of sense of autonomy,competency and relatedness behavior.Study 3 conducted a series of scenario experiments using online dialogues between sellers and buyers in a second-hand trading platform as stimulus to strictly manipulate the degree of interaction of different dimensions and the degree of platform intermediary and verified the moderation effect of platform intermediary.Through the above three studies,this paper draws the following valuable conclusions:(1)Both social interaction and functional interaction positively affect peer engagement behavior,but heterogeneity exists in their influence.This heterogeneity is reflected in the degree of influence and the substitution effect with the physical environment: the positive impact of social interaction on peer engagement behavior is more obvious;social interaction can make up for the lack of the physical service environment;however,the joint effect between functional interaction and physical environment was not significant.(2)The interaction channel moderates the effect between peer-to-peer interaction and peer engagement behavior.With offline interaction,social and functional interaction have a more significant impact on peer engagement behavior.(3)There are differences in the influence process of social interaction and functional interaction on peer engagement behavior: social interaction promotes peer engagement behavior by affecting the sense of autonomy,competence and relatedness of peer customers.In contrast,functional interaction and functional interaction affect peer engagement behavior: social interaction promotes peer engagement by affecting the sense of autonomy and competence.Among them,the sense of relatedness has the largest mediating effect between social interaction and peer engagement behavior,and the sense of competence has the largest mediating effect between functional interaction and peer engagement behavior.(4)The platform intermediary moderates the mediating effect of autonomy and competence between peer-to-peer interactions and peer engagement behavior.Specifically: when the platform intermediary is high,the peer-to-peer interactions affect the sense of autonomy and then promote the peer engagement behavior,and when the platform intermediary is low,the peer-to-peer interactions affect the sense of competence and then promote the peer engagement behaviorThe theoretical contributions of this research are as follows: First,based on the service-dominant logic,the formation mechanism of the peer engagement behavior in the sharing economy platform is systematically analyzed from the perspective of multi-actor interaction,which enriches the research in the field of engagement marketing and contributes to the service-dominant logic.Secondly,we systematically analyze the differential impact of different peer-to-peer interaction dimensions subsequent engagement behavior,which enhances the understanding of provider-customer interaction and its interpersonal impact.Thirdly,the platform institutional characteristic variable is introduced from the interaction level between peers and the platform: the platform intermediary,which is helpful to understand the platform’s role between peer-to-peer interaction and peer engagement behavior and contributes to the research of sharing economy platform governance.Finally,we systematically examine the influence mechanism between the multi-actor interaction and peer engagement behavior,integrates service-dominant logic and self-determination theory,and provide a complete explanatory framework for the research on the formation mechanism of peer engagement behavior in sharing economy platforms.This research has meaningful management implications.We have opened up the black box of the mechanism between multi-actors and peer engagement behavior in the sharing economy platform.This research helps platforms understand the different dimensions of peer-to-peer interaction and the formation mechanism of peer engagement behaviors and provide scientific guidance for platforms to effectively guide providers’ interaction strategies and promote peer engagement behaviors.The findings also help platform managers to clarify the role of platform institutional characteristics and provide suggestions for scientific evaluation and construction of the platform environment.