i2i trust in e-commerce

Abstract

i2i Trust in E-commerce T he Internet has brought about the New Economy and with it a host of research on e-commerce.Most people familiar with e-commerce think of it as, first, the ability of consumers to buy products and services online (an arrangement known as B2C).Alternatively, it's also the ability of businesses to interact with one another other electronically (B2B) in the interests of, say, supporting the supply chain, the next step beyond electronic data interchange.Another important change the Internet has meant for commerce is that individuals have the ability to communicate with one another, independent of location (or i2i, for individual-to-individual). i2i plays a big role in e-commerce in two main scenarios: global teams inside organizations and advisor/advisee interactions from one organization to another or from an agent to a customer. Global teams.For global teams, managers can choose members from around the world, extending their reach to find the most appropriate experts for the job at hand.Many companies have gone global, assigning people from different continents, time zones, areas of expertise, even from outside the organization, to work toward a common goal.Ford Motor Co. is an example of a global organization assigning global teams to design various automobile components and produce cars for all regions, rather than different cars for different regions, as it had previously; Ford calls it "virtual collocation."Meanwhile, although a number of companies have been doing software development around the world and around the clock, such global work has become much easier in recent years thanks to the Internet.Where these companies used to work through ftp and version-control software to share the code itself, today's Netbased communication makes it easier to discuss the work, clarify misunderstandings, coordinate changes, and monitor and maintain the schedule through email, attachments, and text-chat capabilities, as well as through audio and videoconferencing.Advisor/advisee relations.The Internet was originally expected to be a great medium for "disintermediation," or the elimination of people as intermediaries to sources and services.We would be able to explore enormous digital libraries without a reference librarian; access medical information before meeting a physician; view ongoing changes in the stock market, allowing us to make decisions without a broker; or secure travel arrangements without a travel agent.Although such access