The complexity of consumer experience formulation in the sharing economy

The study examines the complexity of the factors that influence overall perception among tourists who use peer to-peer accommodation during their vacations. More specifically, it employs fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyse data from a sample of 712 peer-to-peer holidaymakers visiting Athens, Greece, and examines the socio-demographics of age and income along with the simple attributes of perceived risks, marketing and advertising, social aspects, and price and quality issues. The findings reveal three sufficient configurations that are able to influence the overall experience: (i) the price-quality nexus, (ii) risk perspective, and (iii) social interaction. The research also compares nonlinear analysis with the dominant parametric methods in tourism and hospitality research (regression; Cramer's V), highlighting the suitability of the former for complexity examination. It further progresses from fit to predictive validity for the examined models, and contributes to both theoretical and methodological domains.