A Reputation Mechanism for Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce That Accounts for Rater Credibility

Abstract

This article investigates whether source credibility theory can support reputation mechanisms in business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce. In contrast to consumer electronic marketplaces, the raters in B2B communities are skilled and connected, necessitating a reputation mechanism to account for the relationship between the user and the rater. To solve this problem, TrustBuilder, a prototype rating tool, incorporates a methodology to calculate a weighted rating based on source credibility theory. This solution offers several advantages over existing models. First, source credibility theory provides tested frameworks for aggregating ratings from different sources. Second, there are validated scales for measuring a source's (rater's) credibility. Finally, the weights of a rater's ratings depend on user preferences instead of rater behavior, which decreases the amount of data required to calibrate the model. In an experiment, industry practitioners evaluated bids from service providers using a credibility-weighted tool as well as a standard unweighted tool. The experiment showed that the use of a credibility-weighted tool led to increased user confidence as well as more varied evaluations. This study therefore provides evidence that incorporating source credibility theory in a rating tool adds value in the process of evaluating service providers by increasing the decision maker's confidence in the accuracy of the information.