Purpose – This paper aims to develop a model to sustain digital business communities based on trust and fairness in virtual environments.Design/methodology/approach – We used evidence-based literature to develop TFE model and several propositions. It is based on the evidence from secondary data which have been collected from books, journals, newspapers, and internet.

Originality/value – There is no or research which concerns on how to sustain a digital business community. A conceptual framework has been developed describing the aspects of knowledge of trustworthiness, fairness and that spread among the members in digital business communities. Several propositions are also developed to support the working of the models.

Practical implications – The outcomes of the application can be used to endorse the sustainability of digital business community. If members of the community contain only , the community will sustain. As a neutral third party agents and community administrators have a vital role to record and it will be used to isolate members of the community members. Furthermore, if there is fairness in terms of then community members will feel comfortable living in the community. Their economics welfare is also a way to foster the commitment and active participation of community members. As a final result, the competitive advantage of the community will bring benefits for the community and other stakeholders involved.

Keywords – sustainability, trust, fairness, economics welfare, digital business community