The Role of Facilitating Conditions in Developing Trust for Successful Electronic Marketplace Participation.

E-marketplaces are an important phenomenon in today's e-business environment. Given the uncertainties of Internet e-business, this paper examines the role of facilitating conditions and IT in e-marketplaces. In doing so, we draw upon the lessons learned from traditional EDI via Value-Added-Networks, namely (a) IT connectivity, (b) standards, (c) security, (d) uniform product descriptions and (e) coercive power. The lessons learned serve as facilitating conditions for creating initial technology trust that later evolves into relationship trust in e-marketplaces. Technology trust is derived from institutional structures, which means that one believes that there are impersonal structures that enable one to act in anticipation of a successful future endeavor. Relationship trust is derived from the interpersonal component reflecting behaviors such as the partner's reliability, integrity, and dependability as well as their knowledge and understanding of the e-marketplace systems. We conclude the paper with implications for theory, research, practices and suggest directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]