E-commerce partnering due diligence: A methodology for trust in e-commerce in food networks
Melanie Fritz · Food Economics - Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section C · 2007
Trust is one of the key facilitators for transactions in food networks. Recent developments in electronic transaction support such as e-commerce allow for efficiency improvements in exchange processes along food supply chains. However, the communication of trust between transaction partners is not sufficiently realized in existing e-commerce offers for food networks. To enable food networks to exploit efficiency potentials from electronic commerce, appropriate generation of trust and confidence at the transaction partners in the sense of an e-commerce partnering due diligence is necessary. This paper presents a methodology for a systematic identification of trust generation for electronic transactions in food networks. The methodology builds on three central elements: transaction decisions, the four phases of the transaction process, and the information and communication processes as mediating links. The transaction decision portfolio builds the central element of the methodology and contains criteria for the assessment of the reliability of transaction situations.