Surf's Up: Communicative Aspects of Online Trust-Building among Couchsurfing Hosts

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Author(s): Maura Cherney (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, USA), Daniel Cochece Davis (Illinois State University, USA)and Sandra Metts (Illinois State University, USA)
Copyright: 2017
Pages: 21
Source title: Establishing and Evaluating Digital Ethos and Online Credibility
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Moe Folk (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, USA)and Shawn Apostel (Bellarmine University, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1072-7.ch013

Keywords: Computer-Mediated Communication / Digital Communications / Information Science Reference / Media & Communications

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Abstract

As human interaction increasingly shifts to on-line environments, the age-old challenge of determining communicators' credibility becomes all the more important and challenging. The absence of nonverbal behaviors adds to this challenge, though “rich media” attempt to compensate for this traditional lacuna within mediated interpersonal communication. The present study seeks to empirically understand how the ability and necessity of trust and credibility are built, maintained, and depreciated in online environments, using the on-line “Couchsurfing” travel environment as a worthy sample. In this environment, both hosts and guests must determine whether the other is a viable candidate for free housing, even though they have typically never met face-to-face, or even spoken via phone. Results show participants relying on information found in members' request messages and references, both when accepting and rejecting requests, with a lack of reliance placed on photos and other textual profile information.

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Surf's Up: Communicative Aspects of Online Trust-Building among Couchsurfing Hosts

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