Can long-term orientation mitigate the impact of users’ ethical concerns on migration behavior? A trust loss perspective

Purpose Addressing users’ migration is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of the sharing economy. Ethical concerns that may lead to users’ migration are frequent in sharing economy platforms. Therefore, this study explores whether the long-term governance of sharing economy platforms can effectively mitigate users’ migration caused by ethical concerns. Design/methodology/approach Using a questionnaire survey of 549 participants, this study investigated the mechanism of users’ migration and governance strategies in the platform ecosystem based on trust theory. Findings The results indicate that users’ ethical concerns regarding the platform ecosystem significantly and positively influence their migration. Furthermore, users’ continued trust played a significant mediating role in the relationship between ethical concerns and users’ migration. The results also showed that future orientation and resilience significantly moderated the impact of users’ ethical concerns on their continued trust, thereby weakening this effect. Practical implications The author clarified the relationship between ethical concerns and users’ migration, identified the underlying mechanisms and provided guidance on how to mitigate migration behavior. However, users’ migration is influenced by various factors beyond ethical concerns. In addition to some factors that lead to migration, other factors make users stay on the platform. Future research should integrate multiple factors. Originality/value This study reveals the mechanism of action between users’ migration and ethical concerns in the platform ecosystem and sheds light on the output of long-term orientation practices of the platform.