Trust and reputation for service-oriented environments: Technologies for building business intelligence and consumer confidence

Trust has played a central role in human relationships and hence has been the subject of study in many fields including business, law, social science, philosophy and psychology. It has played a pivotal role in forming contracts, carrying out business, assisting people work together co-operatively and underpins many forms of collaboration. Closely related to this notion of trust is the concept of reputation within a community, with other peers or society in general. This is frequently used as the basis of a judgement as to whether to trust an individual or organisation particularly in the absence of previous direct contact with them.