TY - JOUR

T1 - No matter what the name, we’re all the same? Examining ethnic online discrimination in ridesharing marketplaces

AU - Abramova, Olga

N1 - Funding Information: The current article is the extended version of the ECIS paper (https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2020_rp/48). I would like to thank Dr. Jianwei Hou, who served as associate editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The author also acknowledges the assistance of Georg Voronin in creating the mock-ups for the experiment. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - Sharing marketplaces emerged as the new Holy Grail of value creation by enabling exchanges between strangers. Identity reveal, encouraged by platforms, cuts both ways: While inducing pre-transaction confidence, it is suspected of backfiring on the information senders with its discriminative potential. This study employs a discrete choice experiment to explore the role of names as signifiers of discriminative peculiarities and the importance of accompanying cues in peer choices of a ridesharing offer. We quantify users’ preferences for quality signals in monetary terms and evidence comparative disadvantage of Middle Eastern descent male names for drivers and co-travelers. It translates into a lower willingness to accept and pay for an offer. Market simulations confirm the robustness of the findings. Further, we discover that females are choosier and include more signifiers of involuntary personal attributes in their decision-making. Price discounts and positive information only partly compensate for the initial disadvantage, and identity concealment is perceived negatively.

AB - Sharing marketplaces emerged as the new Holy Grail of value creation by enabling exchanges between strangers. Identity reveal, encouraged by platforms, cuts both ways: While inducing pre-transaction confidence, it is suspected of backfiring on the information senders with its discriminative potential. This study employs a discrete choice experiment to explore the role of names as signifiers of discriminative peculiarities and the importance of accompanying cues in peer choices of a ridesharing offer. We quantify users’ preferences for quality signals in monetary terms and evidence comparative disadvantage of Middle Eastern descent male names for drivers and co-travelers. It translates into a lower willingness to accept and pay for an offer. Market simulations confirm the robustness of the findings. Further, we discover that females are choosier and include more signifiers of involuntary personal attributes in their decision-making. Price discounts and positive information only partly compensate for the initial disadvantage, and identity concealment is perceived negatively.

KW - Discrete choice experiment

KW - Discrimination

KW - Racism

KW - Sharing economy

KW - Social inclusion

KW - Stated preferences

KW - Business informatics

KW - Informatics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123633948&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12525-021-00505-z

DO - 10.1007/s12525-021-00505-z

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 35602118

AN - SCOPUS:85123633948

VL - 32

SP - 1419

EP - 1446

JO - Electronic Markets

JF - Electronic Markets

SN - 1019-6781

IS - 3

ER -