Motor carrier spot market: trust-building in public e-marketplaces

Purpose This research aims at understanding the routes public e-marketplaces take, in the motor carrier spot market, to generate trust among participants. Design/methodology/approach This work borrows cue signaling theory and an e-marketplace content analysis instrument from information systems literature. Our primary data captures differences in usage of a broad spectrum of cues between motor carrier spot e-marketplaces and a control sample. Findings Transportation e-marketplaces use graphical cues more frequently than the control sample, display these cues on their "operational path" (where users click to conduct transactions) and try to generate beliefs in participants' integrity and competence. Research limitations/implications - The motor carrier online spot market constitutes a relevant test bed for trust-related theories. Several levels of trust-building conceptualizations are tested; the cue level shows the most potential. This paper extends cue signaling theory in the transportation e-marketplace context and calls for further work on operational path cues to enrich swift trust theories. Practical implications - This study helps e-marketplace designers by identifying essential and facultative cues for the motor carrier spot market. Originality/value Research on public spot e-marketplaces in the motor carrier context is scant. The context is described in detail to show its specificities in structures and behaviors. This helps to contribute to both practice and research. By evolving an existing research instrument from information systems literature, this study ensures replicability (problematic in academic research) .