When uncertainty fuels bias: unconscious racial discrimination against sharing economy service providers in Airbnb

Unconscious bias is an unintentional bias that can be mitigated through awareness. Based on the uncertainty amplification effect, current research investigates whether there is an unconscious bias based on race of Airbnb hosts and explores whether and how uncertainty might make those biases stronger. Three experimental studies demonstrate the existence of unconsciously biased behavior on the Airbnb platform, which is exacerbated in uncertain conditions such as budget tiers (vs. luxury) or room types (vs. whole house), and less (vs. more) familiar locations, with this effect being larger for Black hosts than White hosts. These findings advance hospitality research by addressing implicit racial bias, while also aiming to improve guest-host interactions and foster a more inclusive and equitable environment for sharing economy service providers.