The Influence of Scope and Timing of The Influence of Scope and Timing of Reliability Assurance in B2B E-Reliability Assurance in B2B E-

CommerceCommerce

Symposium on Information Systems Assurance10-22-05

AgendaAgenda

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 care?

Do we find support?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 Do we test?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

ParticipatedParticipated??

Do we find?Do we find?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Control Static Continuous

Assurance Scope

Lik

liho

od

of

Re

co

mm

en

din

g E

-Hu

b U

se

p=.002

Systems(p=.08)

Information(p=.04)

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 Do we find?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 Are our conclusions?conclusions?

The Influence of Scope and Timing of The Influence of Scope and Timing of Reliability Assurance in B2B E-Reliability Assurance in B2B E-

CommerceCommerce

Symposium on Information Systems Assurance10-22-05