Research by Zervas, Proserpio, and Byers Featured in NYTimes: “Companies Are Rating You”
Research by Hariri Junior Faculty Fellow Giorgos Zervas (Questrom), Hariri Faculty Fellow John Byers (CAS, CS), and PhD candidate Davide Proserpio (CAS, CS) was prominently featured in a New York Times article on the sharing economy, specifically Airbnb. The research referenced by the NYTimes was recently published as a paper on the subject entitled: “A First Look at Online Reputation on Airbnb, Where Every Stay Is Above Average.”
Quoting the New York Times:
Customer reviews are a new form of credit report, one that measures manners instead of finances. Although such ratings have been tried before — eBay was a pioneer — the practice has taken off with the rise of the so-called on-demand economy.
They [Zervas, Byers, and Proserpio] looked at more than 2,000 properties listed on both Airbnb, which allows hosts to rate guests, and TripAdvisor, which does not. In theory, the reviewers should say the same thing on each service. But on Airbnb the enthusiasm is much more palpable. The number of cross-listed properties rated 4.5 stars or above is 14 percent higher on Airbnb than on TripAdvisor. The number that receive 5 stars, a perfect score, is 18 percent higher. ‘There are incentives that encourage the over-reporting of positive experiences and the underreporting of negative experiences,” Mr. Zervas said.
One theory: If Airbnb guests seem too critical they might get turned down by future hosts who worry they will be too demanding. Who wants a cranky guest complaining about the noise at 3 a.m.? A better approach is just to shower everyone and everything with praise.
‘You’re going to have a great time,’ Mr. Zervas said. ‘Whether you like it or not.’”