The Influence of Scope and Timing of Reliability Assurance in B2B E-Commerce Symposium on Information Systems Assurance

Agenda

 Advance the use of assurance to support e-commerce in a B2B setting.  Initial seals by CPAs in B2C unsuccessful.  B2B more promising, but what type of report is valued? –Specific information or general system –Point in time or Continuous Do we care?

Do we find support?  Scope –Coordination more important suggests systems assurance more important –Motivation more important suggests information more important  Timing –Both coordination and motivation costs suggest continuous more valued than static Transaction Cost Economics

Do we test?  B2B Exchange setting –Target market for assurance –High transaction costs  2 X 2 Experiment –Scope Systems or Information –Timing Static or Continuous

 95 purchasing professionals –Av. age 42 years –Av. Purchasing experience 10 years –Av. online purchasing 45% –Gender 61% male Participated?

Do we find?

 Other Factors Influencing Decision –Design of web site (+) –Overall propensity to trust (+) –Specific trust in purchasing context (+) –Complexity of technology (-) –Years of purchasing experience (-) Do we find?

 Not much support for formal assurance reports in the B2B exchange setting –Reports should be continuous –Reports can have a negative impact  Still much work to be done –Can’t conclude assurance is not valuable Are our conclusions?

The Influence of Scope and Timing of Reliability Assurance in B2B E-Commerce Symposium on Information Systems Assurance