Transactional vs. Relational Exchanges: An Empirical Investigation of Online Barter Markets

Drawing upon the transactional-relational continuum view of exchange, this study provides one of the very first attempts to examine the exchange relationships between individual buyers and sellers in a peer-to-peer online barter market. Using detailed transaction data and weblog data from a leading online market for book exchanges, we find that there is a dichotomy in users’ exchange orientations: whereas non-avid users are transaction-oriented, avid users are forward-looking and relation-oriented. We further show that the magnitude of relational orientation for avid users is influenced by the breadth of interests. The differences in exchange relationships are evidenced not only in market participants’ choice of transacting partner, but also in how they search for partners in the market. We discuss the implication of our findings for the design of online peer-to-peer markets.