Electronic intermediaries and trust-building in electronic marketplaces

While the critical implications of trust in e-commerce and e-marketplace have been widely touted, the importance and trust-building function of electronic intermediaries seem to be neglected. Drawing on trust, e-commerce and intermediaries literatures, this paper has threefold goals: 1) to investigate the trust-building functions of electronic intermediaries in e-marketplace environment; 2) to develop a trust framework of electronic intermediaries; and 3) to specify the factors influencing trust building of electronic intermediaries and propose a few propositions for further research on the trust-building functions of e-marketplaces.