Three-Way Interaction Effect Model: Moderating Effect of Resource Between Business Age and Host Performance

Abstract

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In the field of accommodation sharing, little attention has been paid to micro-entrepreneurship of hosts. Based on the signaling theory and the resource-based theory, we proposed a three-way interaction effect model to investigate the moderating effect of resource configuration (business size and host reputation) on the relationship between business age and host performance. A statistical analysis of the secondary panel data crawled from Airbnb.com was tested through the negative binomial model. The results shown that: (1) Business age is positively related to host performance; (2) the positive impact of business age on host performance is stronger for smaller size; host reputation has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between business age and host performance; (3) the joint consideration of business age, size, and host reputation has a three-way interaction effect on host performance. The positive impact of business age on host performance is strongest for hosts with smaller size and higher host reputation. These results are helpful to understand the micro-entrepreneurship performance of hosts in the field of accommodation sharing.

Keywords

• micro-entrepreneurship
• accommodation sharing
• resource-based theory
• host performance
• business age