Evaluating trust in peer-to-peer service provider communities

The increasing availability of Internet services has stimulated the development of peer-to-peer markets. These electronic markets have the potential for improving the efficiency of trading by reducing search and transaction costs. They also allow buyers to choose the best possible service for every transaction and interact with different sellers over time. In such markets, the establishment of trust is mandatory in order to ensure reliable market exchanges. We identify how trust can be established within a trading community, making use of pre-established Service Level Agreements between participants. The effectiveness of the approach in selecting trusted participants is evaluated via simulation.