Trust in Electronic Commerce: A New Model for Building Online Trust in B2C

The rapid growth in the electronic commerce over the internet has fuelled predictions and speculations about what makes a business to consumer (B2C) web site effective. Increasing use of the World Wide Web as a B2C commercial tool raises interest in understanding the key issues in building relationships with customers on the internet. Trust is believed to be the key to these relationships. In this paper, an overall model has presented for building online trust in this context. This model outlines some of the key factors that are related in this area and suggests a framework based on these factors. With respect to the position and importance of the trust in online commerce, this model helps businesses in order to capture, sustain and construct long-term relationships with their consumers.               Keywords: E-Trust, Reverse engineering, Business-consumer web sites, online shopping, Web desig

A consumer perspective e-commerce websites evaluation model

Existing website evaluation methods have some weaknesses such as neglecting consumer criteria in their evaluation, being unable to deal with qualitative criteria, and involving complex weight and score calculations. This research aims to develop a hybrid consumer-oriented e-commerce website evaluation model based on the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and the Hardmard Method (HM). Four phases were involved in developing the model: requirements identification, empirical study, model construction, and model confirmation. Requirements identification and empirical study were to identify critical web-design criteria and gather online consumers' preferences. Data, collected from 152 Malaysian consumers using online questionnaires, were used to identify critical e-commerce website features and scale of importance. The new evaluation model comprised of three components. First, the consumer evaluation criteria that consist of the important principles considered by consumers; second, the evaluation mechanisms that integrate FAHP and HM consisting of mathematical expressions that handle subjective judgments, new formulas to calculate the weight and score for each criterion; and third, the evaluation procedures consisting of activities that comprise of goal establishment, document preparation, and identification of website performance. The model was examined by six experts and applied to four case studies. The results show that the new model is practical, and appropriate to evaluate e-commerce websites from consumers' perspectives, and is able to calculate weights and scores for qualitative criteria in a simple way. In addition, it is able to assist decision-makers to make decisions in a measured objective way. The model also contributes new knowledge to the software evaluation fiel

天猫平台买家信用评价机制构建研究

天猫现有的信用评价机制以规范商家(卖家)的行为为主,而买家的行为基本不受约束,以致常常出现买家恶意评价、利用天猫规则进行欺诈等各种失信行为。本文对3家天猫店铺进行深度访谈,初步了解了买家存在的信用问题;通过问卷调查,总结出b2C交易过程中常见的买家失信问题及造成的危害,发现造成买家失信最主要的原因是天猫单向信用评价机制对买家诚信监管的缺失。在借鉴淘宝集市双向信用评价模型的基础上,结合问卷调查的结果,构建了天猫平台的买家信用评价机制改进模型,为其他b2C电子商务平台的信用评价机制提供参考。TTmall's current credit evaluation system mainly focuses on regularizing the behaviors of dealers(sellers), while the buyers' behaviors are hardly restrained.So there are various credit problems of buyers, such as baleful evaluation and using the vulnerability of Tmall rules for cheating, etc.The paper takes in-depth interviews with three shops on Tmall, and shows some Tmall buyers' credit problems.After questionnaire survey, it sums up common credit problems of buyers and their harms in B2 C transaction process.Furthermore, it discovers that Tmall's one-way credit evaluation system, which is lack of supervision over buyers' integrity, is the primary cause of the credit problems.Finally, considering Taobao two-way credit evaluation pattern and the result of questionnaire survey, it proposes an improved pattern of Tmall buyers' credit evaluation system which provides reference for improvement in credit evaluation systems of B2 C e-commerce platforms.国家社会科学基金项目“平台型电子商务诚信体系中私人秩序的实证与运作研究”(批准号:12BGL121); 2014年福建省教育厅A类基金项目“基于社会网络视角的B2C平台买家诚信机制研究”(批准号:JAS14227

Dynamical trust and reputation computation model for B2C E-Commerce

Trust is one of the most important factors that influence the successful application of network service environments, such as e-commerce, wireless sensor networks, and online social networks. Computation models associated with trust and reputation have been paid special attention in both computer societies and service science in recent years. In this paper, a dynamical computation model of reputation for B2C e-commerce is proposed. Firstly, conceptions associated with trust and reputation are introduced, and the mathematical formula of trust for B2C e-commerce is given. Then a dynamical computation model of reputation is further proposed based on the conception of trust and the relationship between trust and reputation. In the proposed model, classical varying processes of reputation of B2C e-commerce are discussed. Furthermore, the iterative trust and reputation computation models are formulated via a set of difference equations based on the closed-loop feedback mechanism. Finally, a group of numerical simulation experiments are performed to illustrate the proposed model of trust and reputation. Experimental results show that the proposed model is effective in simulating the dynamical processes of trust and reputation for B2C e-commerce

Closed-loop feedback computation model of dynamical reputation based on the local trust evaluation in business-to-consumer e-commerce

Trust and reputation are important factors that influence the success of both traditional transactions in physical social networks and modern e-commerce in virtual Internet environments. It is difficult to define the concept of trust and quantify it because trust has both subjective and objective characteristics at the same time. A well-reported issue with reputation management system in business-to-consumer (BtoC) e-commerce is the “all good reputation” problem. In order to deal with the confusion, a new computational model of reputation is proposed in this paper. The ratings of each customer are set as basic trust score events. In addition, the time series of massive ratings are aggregated to formulate the sellers’ local temporal trust scores by Beta distribution. A logical model of trust and reputation is established based on the analysis of the dynamical relationship between trust and reputation. As for single goods with repeat transactions, an iterative mathematical model of trust and reputation is established with a closed-loop feedback mechanism. Numerical experiments on repeated transactions recorded over a period of 24 months are performed. The experimental results show that the proposed method plays guiding roles for both theoretical research into trust and reputation and the practical design of reputation systems in BtoC e-commerce

Verkkokauppakulutuksen diffuusio Suomessa ja Ruotsissa 2008–2012 : Sosioekonomisen aseman yhteys kulutukseen ja yhteyttä selittävät tekijät

Tutkielma tarkastelee yritysten ja kuluttajien välisen verkkokaupan muutoksia Suomessa ja Ruotsissa vuosien 2008–2012 välillä. Huomio keskittyy siihen, miten erilaiset yhteiskunnalliset ryhmäjaot vaikuttavat yhteen keskeisimmistä nykyajan kulutuskäyttäytymisen muodoista. Tutkielma asettuu osaksi digitaalisen kuilun keskustelua. Aineisto koostuu kahdesta Eurobarometristä: 'Special Eurobarometer 2008: Consumers protection in the internal market' ja 'Flash Eurobarometer 2012: Consumer attitudes towards cross-border trade and consumer protection'. Kaikki EU-maat kattaneista poikkileikkausaineistoista tutkielman lopulliseen aineistoon valikoitui vuoden 2008 osalta 1788 ja vuoden 2012 osalta 1664 vastaajaa. Muuttujien tilastollisia yhteyksiä tarkasteltiin ristiintaulukoinnein ja merkitsevyystestauksin sekä tarkempi analyysi tehtiin logistisen regressiomallin avulla. Analyysissä tarkastellaan selittävien tekijöiden yhteyksiä sille, että vastaaja on kuluttanut verkkokaupoissa kyselyvuoden aikana. Tulokset osoittavat, että rakenteellisista tekijöistä verkkokauppakulutusta ennustaa korkea sosioekonominen asema, nuori ikä ja korkea koulutus, mutta niiden vaikutus verkkokauppakulutukseen näyttäisi heikentyneen vuosien 2008–2012 välillä ja sosioekonomisen aseman itsenäinen vaikutus katoaa kokonaan. Sosioekonomisen aseman yhteys verkkokauppakulutukseen on samanlainen ruotsalaisilla ja suomalaisilla, mutta ruotsalaiset ovat suomalaisia innokkaampia verkkokauppakuluttajia, vaikka erot ovatkin kaventuneet neljän vuoden aikana. Sosioekonomisen aseman yhteydestä suuri osa selittyy molempina vuosina kolmansien tekijöiden kautta; ylempien toimihenkilöiden muita ryhmiä yleisempi verkkokauppakulutus on yhteydessä muita sosioekonomisia asemia korkeampaan koulutustasoon sekä parempaan kielitaitoon. Sosiodemografisista tekijöistä sukupuolella ja asuinalueella ei ole yhteyttä verkkokauppakulutukseen. Myöskään kuluttajansuojaan luottamisella ja verkkokauppakulutuksella ei ole yhteyttä. Tulokset tukevat havaintoja, joiden mukaan verkkokauppakulutuskäytännön omaksumisessa on väestöryhmittäisiä yhteiskunnan rakenteeseen perustuvia eroja. Verkkokauppakulutuksen edelläkävijöitä ovat pääsääntöisesti nuoret, korkean sosioekonomisen aseman ja korkean koulutuksellisen taustan omaavat henkilöt. Digitaalisen syrjäytymisen vaarassa ovat etenkin kielitaidottomat ja vanhukset. Tulokset väestöryhmittäisten erojen heikkenemisestä antavat tukea näkemyksille, joissa uudenlaisen kulutuskäytännön ilmaantuessa rakenteelliset erot ovat aluksi suuria, mutta ajan kuluessa heikkenevät. Verkkokauppakulutuksessa valtavirtaistumista on tapahtunut suhteellisen nopeasti vain neljän vuoden aikana

Systematic Measurement of Centralized Online Reputation Systems

Background: Centralized online reputation systems, which collect users' opinions on products, transactions and events as reputation information then aggregate and publish it, have been widely adopted by Internet companies. These systems can help users build trust, reduce information asymmetry and lter information. Aim: Much research in the area has focused on analyzing single type systems and the cross-type evaluation usually concentrates on one aspect of the system. This research proposes a systematic evaluation model (SERS) that can measure different types of reputation system. Method: From system perspective, all reputation systems can be divided into five underlying components. Input refers to the collection of ratings and reviews; Processing is the aggregation of ratings. Output publishes the information. Feedback Loop is the collection of the feedback of the review, which can be seen as the `review of the review'; Finally, Storage stores all the information. Therefore, based on each component's characteristics, a series of benchmark criteria can be dened and incorporated into the model. Results: The SERS has dened 29 criteria, which can compare and measure different aspects of reputation systems. The model was theoretically assessed on its coverage of the successful factors of reputation systems and the technical dimensions of information systems. The model has also been empirically assessed by applying it to 15 commercial sites. Conclusion: The results obtained indicated that the SERS model has identified most important characteristics that have been proposed by reputation systems literature. In addition the SERS has covered most dimensions of the two basic technical information system measurements: information quality and system quality. The empirical assessment has shown that the SERS can evaluate dierent types of reputation systems and is capable of identifying the weakness of current systems

INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS IN WEB SERVICE QUALITY

Context/Background: Use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is crucial to provide the value added services to consumers to achieve their requirements successfully. SLAs also ensure the expected Quality of Service to consumers. Aim: This study investigates how efficient structural representation and management of SLAs can help to ensure the Quality of Service (QoS) in Web services during Web service composition. Method: Existing specifications and structures for SLAs for Web services do not fully formalize and provide support for different automatic and dynamic behavioral aspects needed for QoS calculation. This study addresses the issues on how to formalize and document the structures of SLAs for better service utilization and improved QoS results. The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is extended in this study with addition of an SLAAgent, which helps to automate the QoS calculation using Fuzzy Inference Systems, service discovery, service selection, SLA monitoring and management during service composition with the help of structured SLA documents. Results: The proposed framework improves the ways of how to structure, manage and monitor SLAs during Web service composition to achieve the better Quality of Service effectively and efficiently. Conclusions: To deal with different types of computational requirements the automation of SLAs is a challenge during Web service composition. This study shows the significance of the SLAs for better QoS during composition of services in SOA