Professionalism and homophily bias: A study of Airbnb stay choice and review positivity

Sharing economy platforms increasingly turn to professionalism to compete with their industry competitors, exemplified by their rule-based practices and fewer emphases on personal relationships. Such expanding professionalism has different effects on social discrimination that is infesting these platforms. We argue that professionalism may reduce one type of discrimination, homophily bias, in partner selection but increase the discrimination in online reviews in these platforms. Using 372,627 stays on Airbnb in New York City, this study demonstrates homophily bias existed in both the selection and review of partners, based on the similarity in race, gender, and age. Moreover, while certain practice of professionalism (i.e., instant booking) reduced homophily biases in partner selection, another professionalism practice (i.e., staying in entire places/apartments) exacerbated the biases in guests’ online reviews of hosts. Our findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should be cautious about the one-fit-all tendency of implementing certain professionalism practices on such platforms.