Towards a Rational Technology Approach: Considerations for Building Trust in B2B E-Commerce

Towards a Rational Technology Approach: Considerations for Building Trust in B2B E-Commerce

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-353-9.ch013
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Abstract

This chapter is based on the premise that all information system research must conclude with operational suggestions that can be considered for implementation in organizations. A number of managerial implications emerge from the findings of this study and based on these implications, suggestions can be made to guide the actions of the business managers in their attempt to enhance the levels of trust in B2B e-commerce. It is well recognized that the characteristics of the attendant environment in each business organization is different, and therefore it is not possible to give generalized suggestions in most of the cases. Therefore, an attempt has been made to explore the possibility of identifying a few decision options relating to adoption of various technologies and practices that have the potential to enhance the levels of trust among the trading partners in B2B e-commerce. This has been achieved by compiling a comprehensive list of relevant technology tools and associated benchmark practices which can be used for making a rational choice after due examination of the environmental constraints and cost considerations. Some of the implications and operational suggestions may appear to be repetitions of what has been already said in the earlier chapters, but they have been presented in this chapter with a different perspective.
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Trust Issues In B2b E-Commerce

The present study has identified, after due empirical testing, seven technology-related trust issues and three environment-related trust issues that help in building trust in B2B e-commerce. The technology-related trust issues include security, privacy, authentication, non-repudiation, web interface, system infrastructure and performance and technology related policies and procedures. The environment-related trust issues include socio-cultural environment, technical standards and regulatory environment. Any strategy to enhance levels of trust in B2B e-commerce should focus on these issues and attempt to deploy and implement suitable technologies in an efficient and effective manner. As most of these technologies entail significant fixed costs (mostly sunk costs), the size of the company is expected to be an important factor in determining the trade off between the costs and the benefits of deploying the given technology and related practices. In addition, other attributes of the company such as focus of B2B e-commerce and the nature of business may play an important role in such decisions. In the remaining part of this chapter, an attempt has been made to identify relevant technologies and the related benchmark practices regarding implementation of these technologies. The observed behavior of the companies belonging to different categories on the basis of size, focus of B2B e-commerce and nature of industry, has also been discussed.

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