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This study aims to identify and assess AI and blockchain solutions in relation to journalistic authenticity and integrity. Central to our exploration is the role of blockchain technology in verifying content provenance. As a key component of a global Web3 framework, blockchain could offer a foundation for authenticating the origins of content. In this article, we explore how blockchain, with its capacity for creating immutable and cryptographically signed data records, could be applied by journalists to verify photos, videos and documents. Our analysis identified nine blockchain-based solutions for content verification, with three platforms–Attestiv, OriginStamp, and Fact Protocol–showing particular promise for journalistic workflows. We conclude that while AI and blockchain solutions are currently available to journalists today, they require high-level technical expertise. Many media companies are now venturing into this field as well, thus affecting the professional role of journalists in general. In our study, it is evident that integrating AI and blockchain in journalism is not merely about adopting new tools but also about understanding their broader implications for journalism as a profession and the convergence in society. The focus must remain on enhancing journalistic integrity and public trust to ensure that these technological advances benefit the field of journalism and, by extension, the democratic processes it supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local citizens' perceptions of their own cities are often neglected when assessing cities' performance. Using the perceived international image and collective pride in Hong Kong as the entry point, this article aims to discover the relationship between citizens' trust in public authorities and urban technologies. Four angles of investigation are developed: the impact of cities' promotion of their international image on local pride; the attitudinal and demographic characteristics of proud citizens; the linkage of local pride with public trust, and digital trust. This article uses data from a Hong Kong-based territory-wide survey in 2021 to conduct the analysis. The result suggests that public trust is an elemental factor having a positive relationship with collective pride and digital trust in Hong Kong. This article also identifies the group of citizens with the least pride. Regaining the citizen's trust is the best remedy for facilitating smart city development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital health covers a wide spectrum of applications of digital technologies in the healthcare field. As a new set of tools to support the health system in achieving its goals—improving access to care, quality of care, and system efficiency—digital health has significantly transformed the landscape of modern medicine and health care. This paper examines the role of digital health under Taiwan National Health Insurance, considering the profound impacts of digital health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses specifically on big data management and analytics (MediCloud and My Health Bank/NHI Mobile Easy Access) and innovative service provision models (telemedicine). We discuss two imminent challenges that any health system is likely to encounter: digital trust and digital divide. For the digital divide, we assessed the use of telemedicine and its determinants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study shows that high-income levels and the presence of chronic or severe illness were positively correlated with the use of telemedicine. This observation suggests that poor people who have poorer health status were most likely to suffer from unmet needs for telemedicine. Enhancing cybersecurity to safeguard confidentiality, and effective communications with the public are fundamental and essential steps to regaining public trust in the digital era. When calling for more investment in digital technology, policy makers should be mindful of the potential digital divide across the demographic and socioeconomic strata, and specific policies should be devised to provide support to target the socially disadvantaged group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of the article is to identify the most important motives of young consumers in Georgia to participate in business models of the sharing economy (car-, ride-, accommodation-, tool-, meal-, tech-, and fashion-sharing), as well as to justify the dominant form of participation (as users or as providers of sharing services). The study is based on a survey conducted in Georgia in 2023 of 60 young people aged 18 to 27 who identify as potential participants in the sharing economy. The study is structured as follows: in the first stage, participants were given specific scenarios for various categories of shared goods and services using digital platforms (relevant for the younger generation), in which they had to estimate the probability of their interest; at the second stage, it was determined which motives (financial, social, or environmental) are decisive in choosing the scenarios that aroused the most significant interest. The study showed that for all types of serial business models, the desire to be a user of e-services significantly outweighs the desire to be their provider: this gap is the largest for car-, accommodation-, and fashion-sharіng services, and the smallest for ride-, tool-, and meal-sharing services. Economic motives turned out to be dominant for those who see themselves as consumers of sharing services and those who are ready to be their providers. They have the biggest influence on tech-sharing sector. Social motives (peer influence and community involvement) appeared to be more critical for providers than consumers, with their influence being the strongest in the ride-, accommodation-, and fashion-sharing sectors. For young consumers in Georgia, environmental awareness turned out to be the most significant motive to participate in the sharing economy mainly in the car-sharing industry. For users of sharing services, the impact of the environmental factor appeared to be greater than for their potential providers. The constructed correlation matrices proved that for consumers of sharing services the following pairwise correlations are the most significant: car- and accommodation-sharing, car- and fashion-sharing, accommodation- and fashion-sharіng; while for providers the most significant are: car- and tech-sharіng, accommodation- and meal-sharing, tool- and meal-sharing, fashion- and tech-sharing.

This research assessed the students' attitudes toward blended learning at universities, specifically accenting delivery mode preferences, exam format preferences, and trust in the digital instructional resources. The study used a quantitative research method with descriptive survey design. A purposive sample of 450 students from public and private universities was used. The study utilized the validated instruments. It was also notable that students had highly positive inclination toward face-to-face interaction, and handson practice, which suggested a hybrid approach of face-to-face teaching and online instruction was preferred over the fully online style of teaching. The analysis revealed that university type and academic year influence attitudes. Concerning the exam types, students were more comfortable with traditional paper and pencil tests; but male students were more accepting of technology-based tests. The level of trust in digital instructional materials was high, although it varied by year of study. Thus, teachers should adopt a gradual approach in integration of blended learning into their classroom. There is need to support learning from diverse backgrounds. The study can help inform educational policy, course development & faculty professional growth in institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain has gained the attention of scholars and industry practitioners due to its immutability, transparency, and operational features, which can improve overall supply chain efficiency. However, a holistic review of blockchain-based supply chains through the lens of digital trust has remained elusive, making participants reluctant to share information due to growing attacks on digital systems and fraud. Therefore, this study examines digital trust in using blockchain technology for supply chain operations by following a five-stage review process consisting of a systematic literature review protocol. The study performs a bibliometric and morphological analysis of 123 articles published between 2012 and 2023 to explore the current state and provide future research directions to develop safe, secure, reliable, and transparent blockchain-based supply chains. Further, our analysis reveals five characteristics of digital trust: transparency, cybersecurity, data protection, accountability, reliability and provenance, and regulatory compliance, which are essential to ensuring digital trust for supply chain sustainability, four research pathways, and keyword combinations for future research with other industry 4.0 technologies. Although blockchain applications for secure and trusted environments have been recognized, very little attention has been given to the detailed discussion on digitally trusted blockchain-based supply chains. The present study contributes to the literature by synthesizing the available literature on blockchain-based supply chains from the perspective of digital trust, thereby analyzing the current state and providing future opportunities for researchers and practitioners working in industry sectors and developing blockchain-based supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital health covers a wide spectrum of applications of digital technologies in the healthcare field. As a new set of tools to support the health system in achieving its goals—improving access to care, quality of care, and system efficiency—digital health has significantly transformed the landscape of modern medicine and health care. This paper examines the role of digital health under Taiwan National Health Insurance, considering the profound impacts of digital health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses specifically on big data management and analytics (MediCloud and My Health Bank/NHI Mobile Easy Access) and innovative service provision models (telemedicine). We discuss two imminent challenges that any health system is likely to encounter: digital trust and digital divide. For the digital divide, we assessed the use of telemedicine and its determinants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study shows that high-income levels and the presence of chronic or severe illness were positively correlated with the use of telemedicine. This observation suggests that poor people who have poorer health status were most likely to suffer from unmet needs for telemedicine. Enhancing cybersecurity to safeguard confidentiality, and effective communications with the public are fundamental and essential steps to regaining public trust in the digital era. When calling for more investment in digital technology, policy makers should be mindful of the potential digital divide across the demographic and socioeconomic strata, and specific policies should be devised to provide support to target the socially disadvantaged group.

Today’s business and commercial undertaking have taken on a dimension that defies the traditional rules of conducting business. Trust, is influential in changing the pattern of work in business strategizing within and between organisations. Issues of complexity and uncertainty are increasingly becoming the norm both within and between organisational interactions. In this regard trust is crucially needed to strengthen the bond of relationships between a firm’s employees and a company’s strategic partners to realise the maximum possible co-operation in a mutually fulfilling manner. The present essay places trust in wider organizational perspective with a consideration of its dynamics in both within and between organisations. The challenge lies on how organisations formulate policies and put in structural mechanisms to sustain the relationships that go a long way to engender trust both within and between an organisation’s trading partners. The intranet and extranet constitute one such technological invention that is spearheading intraorganisational and interorganisational networks. The analysis is primarily situated within this context to bring out the divergent matters that come to the fore when trust is activated within and between organisations. This paper looks at trust from various theoretical standpoints and discusses the many implications of its presence, inadequacy or absence in both intraorganisational and interorganisational networks. The paper concludes with suggestions for examining trust in future research in the subject area.

The main goal of the article is to identify the most important motives of young consumers in Georgia to participate in business models of the sharing economy (car-, ride-, accommodation-, tool-, meal-, tech-, and fashion-sharing), as well as to justify the dominant form of participation (as users or as providers of sharing services). The study is based on a survey conducted in Georgia in 2023 of 60 young people aged 18 to 27 who identify as potential participants in the sharing economy. The study is structured as follows: in the first stage, participants were given specific scenarios for various categories of shared goods and services using digital platforms (relevant for the younger generation), in which they had to estimate the probability of their interest; at the second stage, it was determined which motives (financial, social, or environmental) are decisive in choosing the scenarios that aroused the most significant interest. The study showed that for all types of serial business models, the desire to be a user of e-services significantly outweighs the desire to be their provider: this gap is the largest for car-, accommodation-, and fashion-sharing services, and the smallest for ride-, tool-, and meal-sharing services. Economic motives turned out to be dominant for those who see themselves as consumers of sharing services and those who are ready to be their providers. They have the biggest influence on tech-sharing sector. Social motives (peer influence and community involvement) appeared to be more critical for providers than consumers, with their influence being the strongest in the ride-, accommodation-, and fashion-sharing sectors. For young consumers in Georgia, environmental awareness turned out to be the most significant motive to participate in the sharing economy mainly in the car-sharing industry. For users of sharing services, the impact of the environmental factor appeared to be greater than for their potential providers. The constructed correlation matrices proved that for consumers of sharing services the following pairwise correlations are the most significant: car- and accommodation-sharing, car- and fashion-sharing, accommodation- and fashion-sharing; while for providers the most significant are: car- and tech-sharing, accommodation- and meal-sharing, tool- and meal-sharing, fashion- and tech-sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Industry 4.0 is a significant technical revolution that combines big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cyber-physical systems to improve manufacturing productivity. This study investigates the impact of digital trust and sustainable attitude on perceived value and the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. It also examines the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance in these relationships. Methods Data were collected from 189 employees of leading manufacturing companies in Indonesia that are recognized for their Industry 4.0 practices. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology with SmartPLS software to test the proposed hypotheses and explore the moderating effects. Results The findings reveal that both digital trust and sustainable attitude significantly influence perceived value. However, these factors do not directly affect the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. Uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between digital trust and adoption intention. Specifically, in environments with high uncertainty avoidance, digital trust becomes a critical factor influencing the decision to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. Conclusions The study provides valuable insights for organizations aiming to implement Industry 4.0 initiatives. It highlights the importance of fostering digital trust and considering cultural dimensions, such as uncertainty avoidance, in their technology adoption strategies.

Background Industry 4.0 is a significant technical revolution that combines big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cyber-physical systems to improve manufacturing productivity. This study investigates the impact of digital trust and sustainable attitude on perceived value and the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. It also examines the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance in these relationships. Methods Data were collected from 189 employees of leading manufacturing companies in Indonesia that are recognized for their Industry 4.0 practices. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology with SmartPLS software to test the proposed hypotheses and explore the moderating effects. Results The findings reveal that both digital trust and sustainable attitude significantly influence perceived value. However, these factors do not directly affect the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. Uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between digital trust and adoption intention. Specifically, in environments with high uncertainty avoidance, digital trust becomes a critical factor influencing the decision to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. Conclusions The study provides valuable insights for organizations aiming to implement Industry 4.0 initiatives. It highlights the importance of fostering digital trust and considering cultural dimensions, such as uncertainty avoidance, in their technology adoption strategies.

This paper discusses the mapping model tools for Sharing Economy Business Models (SEBMs) and summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discourse. The main purpose of the research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the SEBMs of local companies, contrasting them with global archetypes as defined by Curtis and Mont (2020). Systematisation of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem indicates that local companies exhibit unique attributes in their SEBMs when compared to their global counterparts. The relevance of this scientific problem decision is that understanding these differences provides valuable insights into how local contexts and conditions shape SEBMs. Investigation of the SEBMs in the paper is carried out through detailed comparisons with global models. Methodological tools of the research methods were studying the companies' models by exploring all available information on the web during the year of observation, 2023. The research object is the local companies because they offer insights into how local contexts and conditions shape SEBMs. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis which reveals differences in areas such as governance model, price mechanism, and revenue streams. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that these variations could be attributed to local market conditions, consumer preferences, or strategic choices made by the companies. The research results can be useful for practitioners and academic researchers in the sharing economy, offering insights into local variations in SEBMs and their potential impact on business strategy.

Purpose: The key aim of the article is to demonstrate that creating awareness of the network's potential is related to the need to develop and implement a digital trust model also on the client's side. Methodology: The implementation of the goal is based on: a critical analysis of literature and the analysis of statistical data and reports containing the results of representative research focused on the attitudes and behaviors of enterprises and consumers in the context of their digital awareness. The research was carried out using a systemic approach and reference was made to behavioral concepts of personality. Findings: We show that: - a low level of awareness does not preclude digital trust in the provider, but the resistance to trust increases with increasing awareness of network security and translates positively into the dually defined value for the client, - the need to build a model of trust from the customer's perspective. Resarch limitation: Our work has limitations. Analyzing the client's awareness only through behavior, referring to a limited extent to social and specific factors determining human personality. We omit the issue of identifying the factors determining trust in the context of the duration of the relationship. Practical implications: Basing the awareness of the network potential on the triad of perception, action, knowledge can point the way to establishing network awareness and digital trust in the enterprise. It can be a guideline to search for factors determining their formation and measures of effectiveness of activities undertaken in this area. Social implications: The entire process of building a safety culture - not only of the enterprise, but also of the entire society - can be based on the (PAK) approach. The identified factor may be important for educational activities. Originality/value The dominant part of research focuses on the search for and implementation of trust models from the perspective of bidders. However, there is a lack of research that considers digital trust from the customer's perspective and connects it with the awareness of network security. The article is addressed to scientists and practitioners who are interested in creating digital awareness and digital trust in online relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of digitalization, market dynamics are ever more intense, prompting firms to accelerate their innovation efforts. This paper analyzes the relationships between industrial internet platform firms' ESG performance, digital leadership, inter-firm relational trust, inter-firm digital trust, and user firms' innovation performance through questionnaire surveys carried out with multiple industrial internet platform users' managers and utilizing empirical analysis methods. We have discovered several important conclusions through our research. Firstly, platform firms' ESG performance and digital leadership positively influence inter-firm relational trust and digital trust. Secondly, inter-firm relational trust and digital trust both have a significant positive impact on user firms' innovation performance, with digital trust exerting a more pronounced impact. Thirdly, inter-firm relational trust and digital trust play a mediating role between platform firms' ESG performance and user firms' innovation performance, as well as between platform firms' digital leadership and user firms' innovation performance. This study expands the existing body of research on inter-firm trust, elucidates the underlying mechanisms linking platform firms' ESG performance, digital leadership, and user firms' innovation performance, and offers valuable insights for enhancing platform firms' ESG performance, inter-firm trust, and user firms' innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the mapping model tools for Sharing Economy Business Models (SEBMs) and summarises the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discourse. The main purpose of the research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the SEBMs of local companies, contrasting them with global archetypes as defined by Curtis and Mont (2020). Systematisation of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem indicates that local companies exhibit unique attributes in their SEBMs when compared to their global counterparts. The relevance of this scientific problem decision is that understanding these differences provides valuable insights into how local contexts and conditions shape SEBMs. Investigation of the SEBMs in the paper is carried out through detailed comparisons with global models. Methodological tools of the research methods were studying the companies' models by exploring all available information on the web during the year of observation, 2023. The research object is the local companies because they offer insights into how local contexts and conditions shape SEBMs. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis which reveals differences in areas such as governance model, price mechanism, and revenue streams. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that these variations could be attributed to local market conditions, consumer preferences, or strategic choices made by the companies. The research results can be useful for practitioners and academic researchers in the sharing economy, offering insights into local variations in SEBMs and their potential impact on business strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education accelerates changes and transformations in social life, as well as one of the main factors of progress and development in general and business. The article substantiates and formalises the relationships between indicators of the level of education (taking into account its innovative development) and the ease of doing business based on evidence from 28 world countries and the data from the World Bank, the United Nations, Tufts University and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. The article aims to find indicators of innovative education that most significantly contribute to the ease of doing business. For this, cognitive analysis of statistical data is carried out, and with the help of descriptive analysis tools, a statistically significant characteristic space of indicators is formed. Checking the density and direction of the relationship is carried out by calculating the values of the Pearson correlation coefficients. The multidimensionality of input feature space is reduced to the four most significant indicators from nine investigated ones (digital development indicator; human development index; digital trust, financial literacy index) using the procedure of principal component analysis and orthogonal transformation using the Varimax method in the Statgraphics Centurion 19 software. The quality of the factorisation is confirmed by Kaiser- Meier-Olkin testing and Bartlett's sphericity testing. As a result of the developed multiple econometric models, which describe the dependence of ease of doing business and the above indicators, and the Backward Stepwise Selection hard screening procedure in Statgraphics 19, a statistically significant model of the effect of digital development on ease of doing business is built. It shows that with the value increase of digital development by 1%, ease of doing business will also increase by 0.79%. The obtained results can be useful to scientists for further research, as well as to change-makers in education and business and all stakeholders in the direction of «business-education» competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The guest editor of this issue, Sergey Volodenkov, is a recognized expert in digital political communications, manipulation and propaganda technologies in modern informational confrontations, public consciousness management, problems of national information security and hybrid wars. His editorial article presents this thematic issue dedicated to the phenomenon of digitalization of political processes and digital politics in general. The purpose of the issue is to demonstrate the achievements of Russian political scientists who develop their original approaches and work in collaboration with foreign academics in political communication studies and demonstrate the lines of the most rigorous research.

In recent years new digital technologies have become an integral part of daily life of civilians, including their interaction with government. Trust in innovation in the government sector became the most important feature of the relations between government and civilians. The main purpose of this research is to explore how the factor of civil trust influences the implementation of digital technologies in government. We studied new phenomenon - “digital trust” and made content analysis of the main programmatic and analytical documents on the realization of the digital government concept. Based on the research results, we described the impact of the trust on the digital government effectiveness, and defined the basic principles of trust building, such as openness of the digital government system for citizens, security and reliability of electronic services, two-way communication with citizens. However, Russia lacks a clear strategy on how to build “digital trust” to government services. This circumstance could become a barrier for government’s digitalization in the future.

Ci sono due pilastri fondamentali che oggi garantiscono una rete Internet forte basata su una governance affidabile e utilizzabile a livello globale: regolamentazione e identità digitale. L’evoluzione di Internet sarà descritta partendo da questi due strumenti abilitanti del trust digitale. Sotto il primo aspetto, inizialmente si analizzerà il significato e l’impatto che la Internet governance ha avuto a livello teorico-filosofico, investigando il rapporto tra legge e codice, e in seguito sarà esaminato in concreto ciò che è stato portato avanti dai legislatori italiano ed europeo, che hanno da tempo cercato la migliore formula normativa per garantire un ecosistema in grado di bilanciare gli interessi dei cittadini e del mercato. Il secondo aspetto della governance di un ecosistema complesso come Internet è l’identità degli utenti. Saranno ripercorsi i tentativi di approcciare il tema dell’identità online: iniziali soluzioni centralizzate hanno lasciato spazio a proposte federate e le tendenze di democratizzazione e digital sovereignty hanno successivamente permesso il fiorire di un nuovo approccio, quello della Self Sovereign Identity. Partendo da una disamina della normativa in vigore in Europa, con alcuni richiami agli interventi regolatori previsti a livello eurounionale, si cercherà di esporre quali strumenti – tecnici e organizzativi – sono più idonei per il raggiungimento di un mercato digitale sicuro e affidabile.

Digital trust is born with the evolution of digital society. It is an inescapable topic in the digital society and it is developed from traditional interpersonal trust and institutional trust and has been extensively used in the Internet space. At present, the research on digital trust is rare. Based on the Trust Theory and the Expectation Confirmation Theory, this paper puts forward an integration model with user satisfaction as the intermediary variable. Besides, this paper develops a set of scales for evaluating digital trust combined with maturity scales and points out that digital trust consists of digital cognitive trust and emotional trust. This paper assumed that user perception and user expectation indirectly affect digital trust through user satisfaction and used SPSS 23.0 to do reliability, validity test, and exploratory factor analysis. The results found that user satisfaction plays a mediating role by fitting, evaluating, and optimizing the structural equation model with AMOS23.0. User satisfaction is a partial intermediary between user perception and digital trust, and it is the complete intermediary between user expectation and digital trust. These results demonstrate two things. Firstly, in the digital society, the construction of users' digital trust is based on users' satisfaction. The government should provide diversified and high-quality e-government services as far as possible. Secondly, digital trust is directly or indirectly affected by user perception and user expectation. The government should build a safe, green, and harmonious digital environment for users and make e-government services consistent with users' expectation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies has revolutionized production environments with their application in supply chains, particularly within the agrifood sector. One notable I4.0 technology is blockchain, which holds significant potential for traceability in agrifood supply chains. However, there are concerns regarding digital trust among the actors involved in adopting this technology. The concept of digital trust, essential for successful implementation, remains underexplored. This research aims to propose a framework for evaluating digital trust in the context of blockchain technology to foster a secure and reliable information sharing environment among all stakeholders within the agrifood supply chain to build confidence in security based on data permissions for user identity. To accomplish this, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify the factors affecting stakeholders’ expectations and trust in using blockchain technology in agrifood supply chains. The literature review will enhance the knowledge about these different factors affecting digital trust under four key dimensions, that are, security/privacy, data control, accountability, and benefit/value. These factors are then ranked using a multi criteria decision-making technique, enabling the development of a framework for industries and government organizations. This framework addresses the use of blockchain technology for traceability in agrifood supply chains while ensuring the trust of actors utilizing this technology. In regions facing war-like situations, such as Ukraine, it becomes crucial to evaluate the factors that can enhance food safety in agrifood supply chains, mitigate food waste and fraud risks, and maintain the supply chain sustainability by exploring alternative food supplies from reliable partners. The situation is the same all over the globe, in which supply chain risks include frauds and lack of transparency. This study outlines the managerial implications and suggests future research directions to develop a model for assessing digital trust. This model aims to foster information sharing among actors, considering aspects, such as willingness, vulnerability acceptance, shared values, security, identifiability, and digital trust. Smart contracts can be added to the model that removes the need for a third party, warranting more trust. The deployment of this model on a private or public blockchain can enhance transparency, traceability, and address food safety concerns within transactions by addressing issues of security and reliability, accountability, and oversight with an inclusive, ethical, and responsible use.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent emergency measures had a fundamental and disruptive impact on societies and, in particular, on the educational sector. The transition of the modality of educational delivery from face-to-face to online occurred within days; this research study considered the concepts of digital trust and digital access, using structuration, postmodernism, and critical social theory as lenses to understand Higher Education (HE) student experiences during the first wave of the lockdown. The study compared these aspects in Hungary, South Africa, and Wales (UK) with different digital and network readiness indices. The digital development of the countries is presented using both the Digital Intelligence and Network Readiness indices. The research approach was cross-country, international, comparative, inductive, and quantitative. The research study found that there was a significant relationship between the countries' GDP and their network readiness, impacting students' online learning experiences. Significant differences were found between the participating universities in terms of digital access and digital trust; this research provides valuable insights for informing future pedagogical approaches and teaching best practice, specifically for residential universities. Understanding challenges and barriers to student learning experiences, and the impact of inequitable access to digital technologies and communication, is key for future pedagogical policy and practice. Several recommendations are made to inform practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business model literature, while insightful, primarily focuses on the Internet and Web 2.0 contexts. The emergence of pioneering digital technologies, especially the Web3 anchored by blockchain, necessitates reevaluating business model paradigms, particularly those of platform business models within related ecosystems. This study delves into blockchain's unique affordances, investigating how they mold novel Web3 business model patterns and integrate into specific platform ecosystems. We scrutinize the characteristics, trajectories, and synergies of value creation and capture. Using a mixed-methods approach involving 171 interviews and a subsequent sample of 126 Web3 ventures, we delineate a taxonomy of Web3 business model dimensions, clustering emergent decentralized platform ecosystems into pertinent archetypes. Our theoretical model delineates how blockchain affordances influence these configurations, emphasizing the dynamic between a platform's nucleus and its fringes. We highlight Web3 platform design choices leaning towards data sovereignty, emphasizing how the degree of blockchain integration within platform governance—leading to information symmetry and platform disintermediation—transitions digital trust to what we term as digital truth. • Blockchain-based platforms enable new decentralized governance structures in platform ecosystems. • Two distinct Decentralized platform archetypes are identified: Federated and Web3 platform ecosystems. • Platform-inherent token is crucial for incentivization and coordination schemes in fully decentralized platform ecosystems. • Blockchain affordances offer innovative pathways for overcoming B2B platform challenges. • Our study provides managerial insights for designing blockchain-based platform strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Hong Kong's smart city development as the case study, this paper aims to discover the influence of public trust on citizens' perception of Hong Kong's smart city performance in an international dimension, comparing with the smart city ranking by research agencies. Our central investigation further focuses on the association of public trust and digital trust, using COVID19 contact tracing app as an example. This paper uses data from a Hong Kong-based territory-wide survey in 2021 to conduct the analysis. The result suggests a positive relationship between public trust, subjective perception and digital trust, and supports that public acceptability is a cornerstone of an effective public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust is essential in the digital world. It is a critical task to build digital trust for the ongoing digital engineering transformation. Aiming at developing a blockchain-based digital trust mechanism for Cloud Manufacturing or Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS), in this paper, we use the manufacturing of low dead space (LDS) medical syringes through Cloud Manufacturing as a motivating scenario to develop a basic framework. To meet the need of optimally saving COVID-19 vaccine doses to save more lives, the medical device manufacturing community needs to make a swift move to meet the surged need for LDS syringes. Cloud Manufacturing is a form of emerging Digital Manufacturing facilitated with Cloud/Edge Computing, the Internet of Things, and other digital technologies. Cloud manufacturing allows quickly establishing a digital virtual enterprise that pools together various manufacturing resources worldwide to meet the surged needs of products and save cost and time. Trusting the product quality and safety is a significant challenge when using Cloud Manufacturing to manufacture the products. This paper proposes a schema of blockchain-based digital trust mechanisms with examples of using Cloud Manufacturing of medical LDS syringes for the urgent needs of catering COVID-19 vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented paper discusses the complex processes and challenges of the modern world, which are directly related to the development of sharing economy business models in digital platforms. It also explains the main features of the concept and describes the peer-to-peer effects globally and in the context of local cases in Georgia. Georgia is a developing country where the digital trust-forming process has started within the last few years. The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced digital business by increasing transactions over the Internet, which creates enormous opportunities for platforms from the sharing economy. The paper focuses on two areas: the problems of involvement in the sharing economy and the obstacles that directly or indirectly hinder the entities participating in the sharing economy. The research concentrates on consumer experiences and the prospects for developing the current model of the economy even more in future. The combination of consumer values is a dilemma that needs exploration to ensure the successful functioning of sharing economy services. Therefore, research outcomes fill the literature gap related to consumer behaviour on the local sharing economy digital platforms. In order to better understand consumer behavioural characteristics, this study examines motivational factors (technical, customer, trust-based) that individually influence satisfaction and the intention to use a platform in a peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation again. Based on relevant literature and an online survey of 259 questionnaire respondents, who actively use sharing services locally in Georgia, this study confirms that technical prepositions, consumer values attributes and platform trust-based characteristics are positively associated with customer satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that satisfaction positively correlates with future intentions mediated simultaneously by the above-mentioned factors. The research findings can be developed in future academic research to study the digital trust-building process and analyse the complex nature of the sharing economy markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet is a powerful platform in the workplace. However, when abused, it is a place that destroys everyone. This paper presents how society is practicing netizenship responsibility. Specifically, it measures trust towards the Internet and social media as perceived by the employees. It also describes predictors that affect confidence level on the Internet and social media trust. A total of 5146 were analyzed from 36 countries. An online survey questionnaire was used utilizing the Marcial-Launer Digital Trust in the Workplace Questionnaire. Results show that the overall mean of the agreement level on Internet trust is moderate (x̅ = 2.59). It also shows that age, gender, continent, innovation index, income level, social technologic ladder, internet satisfaction, job position, company form, company role, and company size were significant predictors of Internet trust. It is concluded that citizens have reasonable confidence that society is doing responsible citizenship. There is a need to establish an ecosystem that can be digitally trusted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the fast development of digital technologies, we are running into a digital world. The relationship among people and the connections among things become more and more complex, and new challenges arise. To tackle these challenges, trust — a soft security mechanism — is considered a promising technology. Thus, in this survey, we do a comprehensive study on trust and trust modelling for the future digital world. We revisit the definitions and properties of trust, analyse the trust theories, and discuss their impact on digital trust modelling. We analyse the digital world and its corresponding environment where people, things, and infrastructure connect with each other. We detail the challenges that require trust in these digital scenarios. Under our analysis of trust and the digital world, we define different types of trust relationships and find out the factors that are needed to ensure a fully representative model. Next, to meet the challenges of digital trust modelling, comprehensive trust model evaluation criteria are proposed, and potential security and privacy issues of trust modelling are analysed. Finally, we provide a wide-ranging analysis of different methodologies, mathematical theories, and how they can be applied to trust modelling.

Although information and communication technologies have made communication, entertainment and business easier for people, they have also enabled cybercriminals to carry out their illegal activities in the digital environment. By misusing data, but also by activities that can cause emotional and physical damage to Internet users, cybercriminals have contributed to the erosion of the trust of consumers who have satisfied their needs and desires with digital shopping. In times of global pandemic, when a large number of consumers were forced to use online shopping services, this distrust caused great damage to companies. Strategies to rebuild trust and revitalize consumer loyalty are imperative for many organizations if they want to survive in the marketplace. Of course, legislative support is also needed to ensure cyber security, which is increasingly taking on global dimensions in its scope, presenting imperatives in defense against cyber threats to states themselves, threatening their economic and political stability.

Information technology plays a critical role in educational management and administration. With information technology integral to shaping trust in the workplace, this paper aims to determine digital trust in educational institutions. Specifically, this article presents the measurement of digital trust level in terms of hardware, software, and people in educational institutions. It also shows the relationships and differences between digital trust and the respondents' socio-demographics, employment, and technological profiles. An online survey questionnaire was utilized using the Marcial-Launer Digital Trust in the Workplace Questionnaire, with 878 responses from academic institutions analyzed. A 4-point forced Likert scale and weighted mean were used to measure the level of trust. Chi-square and one-way ANOVA were utilized to determine significant relationships and differences, respectively. A multiple regression was calculated to predict the level of digital trust on the profiles of the respondents. The results illustrate a moderate level of confidence in electronic devices, hardware and software systems, information systems, and people with access to technology in academic workplaces, with a mean of 2.92. The results also show that socio-demographics, employment profiles, and technologic profiles appeared to be significantly related, at the same time showing differences in the level of digital trust. Gender, income level, and connectivity satisfaction were significant predictors of the level of digital trust in the academic sector. Therefore, it is concluded that there is reasonable trust in information technology in terms of hardware, software, and people in academic institutions. Teachers and non-teaching staff have adequate confidence in electronic devices, hardware and software, information systems, and people who have access to digital technology in the academic working environment. It is recommended that IT departments and similar offices orient, guide, and train employees on the use of electronic devices, for them to be familiar with and confident in using such technology. School administrators need to exert more effort to augment the trust levels among their employees.

The theme of digital trust is of the utmost importance during the digital transformation of our workplaces and society. Rapidly changing technological innovations disrupt lives and workplaces. Such a transformation influences an employee's feelings and self-esteem pertaining to their work and life. It changes the way people believe in the ability, reliability, and power of something or someone. This study suggests a new instrument for the measurement of digital trust in the workplace based on three dimensions: technology, people, and processes. We used a worldwide sample consisting of 5575 employees working in different countries and industries, employing a snowball sampling method. An online survey was used to collect data after translating items into different languages. In order to test the proposed model, the factorial structures and internal consistencies were calculated. The results showed that the 50-item questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the core structure of a digital trust model. Moreover, the affirmed 10 subdimensions present a constructional basis for understanding the main drivers of digital trust in the workplace. This study builds and tests a new three-dimensional model of digital trust in the workplace. Focusing on employees' trust perceptions of technologies, people, and processes in the workplace, this study presents three factors which are fundamental to answering the question of what influences employees' digital trust in the workplace. This study proposes a valid and reliable instrument for measuring digital trust in the workplace in different environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the impact of air quality on health, the use of low-cost gas sensor systems in air quality monitoring has increased. The deficiencies of low-cost gas sensors such as cross-sensitivities, interferences with environmental factors, and unit-to-unit variability have led to multidimensional calibration approaches with machine learning applied to field data. However, the trustworthiness of measurement results remains a concern, since sensor aging and concept drift are common problems. While most machine learning algorithms do not disclose the reliability and trustworthiness of measurement results, Bayesian models offer integrated sanity checking of predictions. Motivated by recent advancements in variational inference, this publication evaluates the potential of variational Bayesian linear regression and variational Bayesian neural networks for the calibration of low-cost gas sensors and sensor systems using laboratory as well as published field data. With the performed analysis, it can be shown that raw sensor measurements outside confidence regions, implicitly defined by the calibration input data, are detectable. In such situations, the uncertainty of the posterior predictive distribution increases, suggesting less trustworthy measurement results and necessity for maintenance.

Background: Industry 4.0 is a significant technical revolution that combines big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cyber-physical systems to improve manufacturing productivity. This study investigates the impact of digital trust and sustainable attitude on perceived value and the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. It also examines the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance in these relationships., Methods: Data were collected from 189 employees of leading manufacturing companies in Indonesia that are recognized for their Industry 4.0 practices. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology with SmartPLS software to test the proposed hypotheses and explore the moderating effects., Results: The findings reveal that both digital trust and sustainable attitude significantly influence perceived value. However, these factors do not directly affect the intention to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. Uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between digital trust and adoption intention. Specifically, in environments with high uncertainty avoidance, digital trust becomes a critical factor influencing the decision to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies., Conclusions: The study provides valuable insights for organizations aiming to implement Industry 4.0 initiatives. It highlights the importance of fostering digital trust and considering cultural dimensions, such as uncertainty avoidance, in their technology adoption strategies., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2024 Sartono Y et al.)

Sensors can suffer from aging drift over their lifetime, thus showing changes in sensitivity and baseline, which then leads to unreliable measurement results and affects digital trust. By performing Monte Carlo simulations, this work evaluated the opportunity to use gradient descent, in combination with reliable mobile nodes as references, for the recalibration of wireless sensor networks in the context of smart cities. In the implemented simulations, sensor aging was treated as a deterministic process while encounters between sensors and mobile references occurred in a stochastic manner. Furthermore, by exchange of data during several encounters between sensors and mobile references, a recalibration data set was constructed. In addition, encounters were weighted according to their recency – more important when being more recent. The results presented here are promising, showing that even few recent encounters might be sufficient for recalibration in order to provide once again trustworthy measurement results.

Digital technologies, such as social networks, smartphones, block chainsorbig data, have become an indispensable part of our lives in recent years. They have a significant impact on our daily lives, even in crucial areas such as health, finance, and education. Recognising this, organisations presently face a difficult challenge -- to create consumer digital trust. It should be noted that most studies have focused on the establishment of digital trust without identifying and considering the basic definition of "digital trust". The purpose of this article is to provide insights regarding the state of the art of digital trust, and to suggest areas for future research. Using a systematic literature review, this paper provides an overview of the literature. The most important conclusionto be derived from this study is that there is no single generally accepted definition of digital trust. Although the early research on "digital trust" can be traced back to 1996, it was only after 2016 that the number of papers on this topic increased substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization is one of the key world economic trends. Countries with the wealthiest economies have integrated the digitalization program into their economic development plans. At the same time, monitoring of the digitalization’s dynamics and degree of impact on welfare is of great importance for all countries of the global community. Nowadays, there are practically no integrated studies assessing institutional, cultural, economic, educational and infrastructural consequences of the digitalization. This article assesses how the digitalization affect s the mentioned driver s o f social an d economic development . Moreover , it examines the digitalization’s impact on welfare of the developed and developing countries. The relevance of defining the effects of digitalization’s rapid implementation in various countries determined the study’s purpose. We based the methodology on building the balanced panel regression. The key metric for measuring the digitalization is the Digital Evolution Index of 50 countries for 2008, 2013 and 2017. The research findings have confirmed positive impact of the digitalization in the developed countries due to a high levels of digital inclusivity, public and private investment, and digital literacy and trust. At the same time, in the developing countries the digitalization’s impact on welfare was not confirmed due to a low level of state involvement in digitalization development and rigid, non-flexible institutional environment. The obtained empirical results can be used for forming management tools of the digitalization strategy for regions with various levels of social, economic, institutional and digital environment development.

The paper reviews Georgia's digital trust formation process and underlines the most important challenges for the online business sector. This research can be generalized for most developing countries where the digital transition process is on the agenda, especially for countries that have recently emerged from economic-political transition. Georgia has completed the transition from a centrally planned economic system (the heritage of being part of the Soviet Union) to a free market economy. Although trust in institutions is improving gradually, mistrust in business processes is still a great challenge for local business sectors. A wide-reaching lockdown caused by the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic pushed both firms and individuals further towards online activity worldwide. In this regard, trust has become the key determinant in facilitating electronic transactions. Technological advances are providing dozens of tools to improve customer satisfaction and trust, which should lead to customer loyalty. On the other hand, lack of digital skills and digital security problems raises digital untrust concerns. Therefore, trust research in the digital economy is becoming more actual for academic or business studies. Digital trust is a multidimensional factor that is under the influence of digital and physical operations. In Georgia, businesses have to overcome obstacles built-in people's minds as a heritage of the Soviet Union. Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union for 70 years, which critically degraded the trust of both formal and informal institutions. Therefore, building digital trust in business is getting more complex as it includes traditional trust problems and digital challenges too. The main research purpose in this paper is to present the digital trust forming process in Georgia to reveal the major problems. This study involved the trust stack model in analysing three different stages of trust formation in the Georgian digital economy (trust in the idea, trust in the platform, trust in the individual). The research identified challenges and steps which should be carried out soon. Research academic findings and methodological approaches can be used to analyze other developing countries whose economies are influenced by the digital transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose blockchains and smart contracts as enabling technologies for an innovative type of supply chain management, with the goal of achieving higher levels of collaboration between the companies participating in the chain, which in turn pays in the form of higher levels of profitability and economic health for the participating enterprises. Our proposal goes far beyond simply using blockchains as decentralized systems to track the origin and delivery of goods, which is what most of the current blockchain projects on supply chains are focused on. In fact, we introduce a type of smart contract aimed to solve two of the main problems that hinder the efficiency and effectiveness of supply chains, namely trust and coordination. Solving the problem of trust amounts to the capability of establishing quickly and cheaply contractual relationships based on convergent business needs among parties that may not know each other, and therefore need to protect themselves from opportunistic or incorrect behavior. Solving the problem of coordination consists in creating, at convenient management costs, a control system capable of directing the objectives of the supply chain as a whole, so as to achieve a greater common good in the medium term, as an alternative to the state of affairs in which each participant pursues, on its own behalf, lower but immediate returns. Our smart contracts for innovative supply chain management replace human coordinators in tackling the problems above, thus eliminating one major obstacle to their effective solution, namely the need to trust the coordinator itself. Furthermore, in this way, by automating the process of coordination, they unburden the supply chain of a considerable management cost. Contracts of this kind not only automate contract execution as in standard smart contracts, but also adjust costs and compensations of the members of a supply chain, effectively taking up the role that was of human coordinators. Thus, we refer to them as “intelligent smart contracts.” In the course of the paper, we will illustrate an innovative supply chain architecture based on intelligent smart contracts running on blockchain, we will detail the algorithmic methodologies underlying the decision-making process of these contracts and we will outline the wider socio-economic perspectives opened by our approach.

From its humble origin in 2003, BlaBlaCar has become a preferred ride-sharing platform for the passengers across Europe. BlaBlaCar is an online marketplace that connects drivers and passengers and helps them share the costs of journeys. In so doing, it creates value for both sides of the platform. Drivers save money of the cost of the trip, and passengers get a low-cost option to reach their destination. The case follows the company from the inception to its growth and current challenges. The case helps the students in understanding the business of digital platforms as it relates to value creation for the customers, matching the value proposition for two sides, revenue and pricing strategies, and the crucial role of trust in sharing economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies has revolutionized production environments with their application in supply chains, particularly within the agrifood sector. One notable I4.0 technology is blockchain, which holds significant potential for traceability in agrifood supply chains. However, there are concerns regarding digital trust among the actors involved in adopting this technology. The concept of digital trust, essential for successful implementation, remains underexplored. This research aims to propose a framework for evaluating digital trust in the context of blockchain technology to foster a secure and reliable information sharing environment among all stakeholders within the agrifood supply chain to build confidence in security based on data permissions for user identity. To accomplish this, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify the factors affecting stakeholders' expectations and trust in using blockchain technology in agrifood supply chains. The literature review will enhance the knowledge about these different factors affecting digital trust under four key dimensions, that are, security/privacy, data control, accountability, and benefit/value. These factors are then ranked using a multi criteria decision-making technique, enabling the development of a framework for industries and government organizations. This framework addresses the use of blockchain technology for traceability in agrifood supply chains while ensuring the trust of actors utilizing this technology. In regions facing war-like situations, such as Ukraine, it becomes crucial to evaluate the factors that can enhance food safety in agrifood supply chains, mitigate food waste and fraud risks, and maintain the supply chain sustainability by exploring alternative food supplies from reliable partners. The situation is the same all over the globe, in which supply chain risks include frauds and lack of transparency. This study outlines the managerial implications and suggests future research directions to develop a model for assessing digital trust. This model aims to foster information sharing among actors, considering aspects, such as willingness, vulnerability acceptance, shared values, security, identifiability, and digital trust. Smart contracts can be added to the model that removes the need for a third party, warranting more trust. The deployment of this model on a private or public blockchain can enhance transparency, traceability, and address food safety concerns within transactions by addressing issues of security and reliability, accountability, and oversight with an inclusive, ethical, and responsible use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]