Economic impacts of digital home-sharing platform: Creative destruction in the hospitality industry

Abstract

This paper describes an empirical study that was conducted by applying creative destruction theory to examine structural changes in the hospitality industry due to the growth of digital home-sharing platforms. To achieve these research aims, the current study considered the hospitality industry, which encompasses the accommodation and restaurant sectors, as well as Airbnb, representing the digital home-sharing platform. The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between the exit of the accommodation industry and the supply of the digital home-sharing platform, while both entry and exit in the restaurant industry are significantly associated with the supply or performance of the digital home-sharing platform. Over time, this leads to industry transformations as certain segments of the lodging industry are replaced by digital home-sharing platforms, and as the restaurant industry undergoes a process of creative destruction, with establishments unable to adapt to changing business environments and the emergence of new facilities tailored to new technologies or accommodation models.