Abstract

Trust is the foundation for the success of Digital Enterprise. However, in a trust-based relationship, trust has distinct life cycle phases. These phases are: building, maintenance and dissolution. A positive trust value between trusting agent and trusted agent results from the activity of successful trust building. However, the next important step in the relationship is to maintain this positive trust level which has been established. In the trust maintenance phase, the initial trust value that that has already been established in the trust building phase needs to be re-calibrated. In this paper, we present a methodology for calculating the final trust during the trust maintenance phase. Continuous performance monitoring employed during trust maintenance results in multiple intermediate trust values. This intermediate trust value takes into account the dynamic nature of trust in an interaction. We present a framework for using our proposed metrics to calculate final trust values in a real world situation and demonstrate the validity of the metrics with a case study and simulations.

Keywords: trust maintenance, continues performance monitoring, digital enterprise