J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res., Volume 5, Issue 2 (August 2010) – 9 articles

Digital ecosystems, or IT-ecosystems (ITEs), are composed of multiple and independent entities such as individuals, organizations, services, software, and applications. Together, these elements create a number of new independent systems that operate and communicate with their own infrastructure (man to machine; machine to machine; person to person), sharing one or several missions. A better understanding of how ITEs and their interconnected components create benefits and added value for different types of consumers is of particular importance to the establishment of digital environments and to managing their resources. Considering different components of perceived trust in ITEs, we rely in this paper on a multi-dimensional framework of trust effects that includes system-centric as well as user-centric determinants of trust. Based on our conceptual model, we develop two sets of propositions. The first ones address technological drivers of trust in ITEs, whereas the second set of propositions considers individual as well as social drivers of trust. The model and propositions are discussed with reference to preliminary empirical results as well as to future research steps and business implications. Full article

The success and competitive edge of enterprises has become increasingly dependent on the enterprises’ agility to become members in business networks that support their own business strategies. Therefore, integration solutions with their well-weathered strategic networks are no longer sufficient. Instead, there is need for more open business service ecosystems where previously unknown services and partnerships can be utilized. The ecosystem is to be supported with infrastructure services to solve the evident problems of semantic and pragmatic interoperability and collaboration-governing contract management. Furthermore, the ecosystem must support the creation of trust relationships with previously unknown partners, and reacting to encountered breaches of trust within collaborations. This paper proposes a trust management system where autonomous enterprises make automated, private trust decisions about their membership in each collaboration separately, while taking advantage of globally shared reputation of business peers in earlier collaborations. The trust decisions are adjustable to different and changing business situations. Full article

We introduce a multidimensional framework for classifying and comparing trust and reputation (T&R) systems. The framework dimensions encompass both hard and soft features of such systems including different witness location approaches, various reputation calculation engines, variety of information sources and rating systems which are categorised as hard features, and also basic reputation measurement parameters, context diversity checking, reliability and honesty assessment and adaptability which are referred to as soft features. Specifically, the framework dimensions answer questions related to major characteristics of T&R systems including those parameters from the real world that should be imitated in a virtual environment. The proposed framework can serve as a basis to understand the current state of the art in the area of computational trust and reputation and also help in designing suitable control mechanisms for online communities. In addition, we have provided a critical analysis of some of the existing techniques in the literature compared within the context of the proposed framework dimensions. Full article

In service-oriented systems a constellation of services cooperate, sharing potentially sensitive information and responsibilities. Cooperation is only possible if the different participants trust each other. As trust may depend on many different factors, in a flexible framework for Trust Management (TM) trust must be computed by combining different types of information. In this paper we describe the TAS³ TM framework which integrates independent TM systems into a single trust decision point. The TM framework supports intricate combinations whilst still remaining easily extensible. It also provides a unified trust evaluation interface to the (authorization framework of the) services. We demonstrate the flexibility of the approach by integrating three distinct TM paradigms: reputation-based TM, credential-based TM, and Key Performance Indicator TM. Finally, we discuss privacy concerns in TM systems and the directions to be taken for the definition of a privacy-friendly TM architecture. Full article

This paper discusses the meaning and the role of Trust and Reputation in Internet-of-Service and e-Commerce environments following a comparative case study. Both environments represent paradigms through which the Internet is seen as a huge infrastructure where electronic services or real products are traded on. In comparison to electronic commerce, participating in an Internet-of-Services can be full of risks for all participants. Even well known security mechanisms are not able to close all gaps of access and usage control. This paper discusses the concepts of trust and reputation and brings to light the relation between these concepts to security mechanisms, Service-Level-Agreements, and quality measurements in order to enable Usage Control. The proposed solution is based on our previous model of reputation objects. The discussion also introduces a new concept of what we call reputation auditing where quality processes are considered part of reputation management not the other way around. Full article

Today globally distributed software development has become the norm for many organizations and the popularity of implementing such an approach continues to increase. In these circumstances a strategy often employed is the use of virtual software development teams. Due to the collaborative nature of software development this has proved a difficult and complex endeavor. Research has identified distance in its various forms as an important factor which negatively impacts on global software development and on virtual software team operation in particular. In this context, the aspects of distance have been defined as temporal, geographical, cultural and linguistic. A key element for the success of any team based project is the development of trust and cooperation. Each aspect of distance can negatively impact on the development of trust and hamper cooperation particularly in the virtual team environment. An additional factor which this research identified is the importance and negative impact fear plays. The serious implications of these factors are due to the need for dependence on asynchronous and online communication which is inherent to global software development and the operation of virtual software teams in particular. The findings presented here are the results from four independent studies undertaken over a twelve year period which consider each of these issues. Having identified the problems associated with trust and communication, how these issues were successfully addressed and managed on a multimillion dollar project which was heading for failure is outlined. Full article

Technological developments now allow community groups, clubs, and even ordinary individuals to create their own, publicly accessible online digital multi-media collections. However, it is unclear as to whether the users of such collection are fully aware of the potential privacy implications of submitting their personal contents (e.g. photographs, video, etc.) to these digital collections. They may even hold misconceptions of the technological support for preserving their privacy. In this paper we present results from 18 auto-ethnographic investigations and 19 ethnographic observations and interviews into privacy issues that arise when people make their personal photo collections available online. The Adams’ privacy model is used to discuss the findings according to information sensitivity, information receiver, and information usage. Further issues of trust and ad hoc poorly supported protection strategies are also presented. Ultimately while photographic data is potentially highly sensitive, the privacy risks are often hidden and the protection mechanisms are limited. Full article

Trust and reputation systems for virtual communities are gaining increasing research attention. These systems track members’ activities and obtain their reputation to improve the quality of member interactions and reduce the effect of fraudulent members. As virtual communities become a central playground for internet users, the reputation a member gains within a community may be viewed as a social credential. These credentials can serve the user as a means for promoting her status in new communities on one hand, and on the other hand assist virtual communities to broaden their knowledge about users with relatively low activity volume. The Cross-Community Reputation (CCR) model was designed for sharing reputation knowledge across communities. The model identifies the fundamental terms that are required for a meaningful sharing of reputation information between communities and proposes methods to make that information sharing feasible within the boundaries of users’ and communities’ policies. This paper presents the CR model and draws the architecture guidelines for designing an infrastructure to support it. The proposed model is evaluated by using a sample of real-world users' ratings as well as by conducting a dedicated experiment with real users. The results of the experimental evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness of the CCR model in various aspects. Full article