Building Effective Online Marketplaces with Institution-Based Trust

Despite the inherent risk arising from separating buyers and sellers, networked online marketplaces are proliferating. We describe how online auction marketplaces take advantage of institutional structures to build buyer trust in auction sellers, mitigate risk, increase satisfaction, and promote transaction intentions. It is hypothesized, based on institutional trust (Zucker 1986), that buyer trust in auction sellers can be increased, beyond past experience with sellers, through structural assurances, such as buyer-driven certification, auction house escrows, and credit card guarantees. We examined buyer transaction intentions, mediated by trusting beliefs, risk reduction, and satisfaction. The model is tested with 274 buyers in Amazonís online auction marketplace. The results support the hypotheses, highlighting the importance of institution-based trust in online networks. Implications are discussed

BEYOND INSTITUTION-BASED TRUST: BUILDING EFFECTIVE ONLINE MARKETPLACES WITH SOCIAL MECHANISMS

Researchers have devoted considerable efforts to design effective online marketplaces, especially with respect to the institutional structures believed to establish buyer trust in the community of sellers. Comparatively speaking, the effectiveness of social mechanisms, although practically evidenced as important, has received much less attention in e-commerce research. In the current study we explore the contribution of social mechanisms–specifically IT-enabled instant messaging, the message box, online community and informal coalition programme–to effective online marketplaces. We propose that these mechanisms facilitate social relationships and trust building processes during transactions, in addition to the existing institutional structures. When consumerto- consumer (C2C) transactions are considered risky, the buyer-seller social relationship is more critical for buyers when forming their transaction intentions. The research model is largely supported by a pilot study of 104 buyers of TaoBao.com, China’s C2C leading marketplace. We discuss the findings, implications, and our preparations for a large-scale study

Trusted operational scenarios - Trust building mechanisms and strategies for electronic marketplaces.

This document presents and describes the trusted operational scenarios, resulting from the research and work carried out in Seamless project. The report presents identified collaboration habits of small and medium enterprises with low e-skills, trust building mechanisms and issues as main enablers of online business relationships on the electronic marketplace, a questionnaire analysis of the level of trust acceptance and necessity of trust building mechanisms, a proposal for the development of different strategies for the different types of trust mechanisms and recommended actions for the SEAMLESS project or other B2B marketplaces.trust building mechanisms, trust, B2B networks, e-marketplaces

Trust and Experience in Online Auctions

This paper aims to shed light on the complexities and difficulties in predicting the effects of trust and the experience of online auction participants on bid levels in online auctions. To provide some insights into learning by bidders, a field study was conducted first to examine auction and bidder characteristics from eBay auctions of rare coins. We proposed that such learning is partly because of institutional-based trust. Data were then gathered from 453 participants in an online experiment and survey, and a structural equation model was used to analyze the results. This paper reveals that experience has a nonmonotonic effect on the levels of online auction bids. Contrary to previous research on traditional auctions, as online auction bidders gain more experience, their level of institutional-based trust increases and leads to higher bid levels. Data also show that both a bidder’s selling and bidding experiences increase bid levels, with the selling experience having a somewhat stronger effect. This paper offers an in-depth study that examines the effects of experience and learning and bid levels in online auctions. We postulate this learning is because of institutional-based trust. Although personal trust in sellers has received a significant amount of research attention, this paper addresses an important gap in the literature by focusing on institutional-based trust

How to Retain Your Customers: The Impact of Consumer Trust and Commitment in E-marketplaces

Retaining your customers is important for E-sellers to survive in the intensified competitive e-marketplace. We approach this issue from the perspective of “continuance intention”, a behavior intention that describes the willingness of customers to continue transacting with sellers. Drawing upon the trust-commitment theory, as well as institution-based trust factors, we examine two types of trustees, EC platform and individual E-sellers, in the process of maintaining customers in e-marketplaces. A model is theoretically developed to understand customers’ continuance intention to do business with specific E-sellers on an EC platform. An empirical study was conducted in three public universities to validate the model. The results suggest that affective commitment and calculative commitment jointly nurture customers’ continuance intention. In addition, five factors of institution-based trust strongly influence trust in EC platform, and then transfers to trust in individual E-sellers

Inefficiencies in markets for intellectual property rights: experiences of academic and public research institutions

The formal use of such intellectual property rights (IPR) as patents and registered copyright by universities has increased steadily in the last two decades. Mainstream arguments, embedded in economic theory and policy, advocating the use of IPR to protect academic research results are based on the view that IPR marketplaces work well and allow universities to reap significant benefits. However, there is a lack of evidence-based research to justify or critically evaluate these claims. Building upon an original survey of 46 universities and public research organizations in the United Kingdom, this study analyses the quality of the institutions underpinning the markets for patents and copyright, investigating potential inefficiencies that could lead to underperformance of the IPR system. These include ‘IPR market failures’ with respect to search processes and transparency; price negotiation processes; uncertainties in the perception of the economic value of IRP and the relationship with R&D cost. Further sources of underperformance may include ‘institutional failures’ with respect to enforcement and regulation. Particular attention is paid to the role of governance forms (e.g. alternative types of licensing agreements) through which IPR exchanges take place. We find that a high share of universities report market failures in IPR transactions and that the choice of IPR governance forms matter for the obstacles that are encountered. Given the importance of widely disseminating university research outcomes to foster innovation and economic development, the presence of inefficiencies in IPR markets suggests that such objectives could best be achieved by encouraging open distribution of knowledge, rather than privatization of academic knowledge

Control Mechanisms for Assessing the Quality of Handmade and Artistic Products in e-Marketplace Platforms

Selling handmade and artistic goods online is challenging since buyers need to be able to assess product quality before purchase. This study aims to explore how control mechanisms aid the assessment of the product quality of handmade and artistic goods. We do so by extracting control mechanisms for e-marketplace platforms from existing literature and discussing to what extent these are suitable for handmade and artistic goods. We found that existing literature mainly focuses on reputation systems. We reshaped the findings by conducting desk research to identify how control mechanisms are applied in a number of e-marketplaces. Our results show that in e-marketplaces that focus on selling handmade artistic products, a reputation system is not sufficient to ensure product quality in an online environment. Thus, it is critical to apply other control mechanisms which are more effective in increasing the trustworthiness of the seller of artistic and handmade goods. Last, we also suggest alternative control mechanisms to be explored in future research

How to Retain Consumers: A Trust-Commitment Model

Although studies on the determinants of consumers’ continuance intention in e-marketplaces have grown in recent years, the research is predominantly related to unidimensional trust and commitment. In this research, the authors focus on the distinct roles of different types of consumer trust and commitment on consumers’ continuance intention. Drawing upon organizational commitment and trust theories, we develop a continuance intention model that includes two types of trust and two types of commitments. We collected a sample of 287 online consumers to validate the theoretical model. Our data suggest that consumers’ trust and commitment positively affect their continuance intention. Our study also indicates that the psychological states underlying the commitments are different. Key findings and implications are discussed

ICIS Panel Summary: Should Institutional Trust Matter in Information Systems Research?

This paper summarizes and expands the panel on Should Institutional Trust Matter in Information Systems Research? that was presented during the ICIS 2005 Conference in Las Vegas. The panel was co-chaired by Paul A. Pavlou of the University of California and by David Gefen of Drexel University. The panelists were Izak Benbasat of the University of British Columbia, Harrison McKnight of Michigan State University, Katherine Stewart of the University of Maryland, and Detmar W. Straub of Georgia State University. There were about 150 people attending the panel and taking part in the lively discussion that pursued. Due to the interest the panel aroused, this paper expands on the topics discussed and presents them in a much broader perspective in a set of appendices

Quality improvement of manuka honey through the application of high pressure processing

The quality of honey is known to be compromised when it goes through thermal processing due to its negative impact on the unstable and thermolabile honey components which originated from the nectar and bees themselves. This present work is undertaken to access the use of an emerging food preservation technique known as “High Pressure Processing” for treating honey, as an alternative to the conventional thermal processing. In this thesis, honey quality has been addressed by measuring the effects of high pressure processing parameters (pressure, time and temperature) on nutritional properties of honey, namely total phenolic content and antioxidant activity. Honey samples, contained in small pouches, were subjected to different pressures (200-600 MPa) at close to ambient temperatures (25-33°C) for different holding times (10 to 30 min). Thermal processing (49- 70°C) was also carried out for comparison purpose. Results demonstrated that high pressure processing operated at 600 MPa for 10 min has capability to increase significantly the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity by 47% and 30%, respectively. Besides, the result showed that high pressure processing can maintain the natural colour of honey which relates directly to consumer perception, while retaining its shear-thinning behaviour and viscosity with no significant changes (p > 0.05). High pressure processing can also control hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) concentration in honey during process within the standard limit, 16.93 to 18.76 mg/kg (which is below than the maximum allowed limit of 40 mg/kg). This work also reveals that high pressure processing can enhance antibacterial activity of Manuka honey significantly. It shows an increase in the percentage inhibition of Staphylococcus epidermidis from 64.15 ± 5.86% to 84.34 ± 7.62% when honey was subjected to 600 MPa. Storage studies for one year at room temperature (25°C) demonstrated that high pressure-treated samples have a good retention to the physicochemical, nutritional and rheological properties of honey throughout storage, which confirms that the positive effect of high pressure on honey is not a temporary effect. Whereas, an insight study on the safety part showed that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell varied linearly with ° Brix, indicating that food compressibility has a significant role in the microbial inactivation