Hierarchical effects of website aesthetics on customers' intention to book on hospitality sharing economy platforms

The essence of the shared accommodation industry is the easing of market entry with online platforms. Since website design is an important visual component of content strategy, this study aims to understand whether and to what extent website aesthetics influences booking intentions and how this process is influenced by customers' information privacy concerns. The attention-interest-desire-action (AIDA) model is utilized for the theoretical underpinning of this paper, which describes the cognitive steps that customers undergo when booking an online accommodation. This study analyzes a dataset of 325 hospitality sharing economy platform (HSEP) users via a two-stage structural equation modeling process. The results indicate that the AIDA model is applicable as a guideline for uncovering the mechanism through which website aesthetics influences customers' intention to book through an HSEP. Practitioners should prioritize website design aesthetics because it activates customers' booking intents. Potential customers who perceive higher privacy risk overcome their concerns about privacy information via more search effort on HSEPs.