(To my parents, Lloyd and Pearline) The Internet is now being used for commercial, social and educational interactions, which previously relied on direct face-to-face contact to establish trust relationships. Consequently, there is a need to establish and evaluate trust relationships relying only on electronic interactions over the Internet. For example, trust plays an important role in all
... [Show full abstract] e-commerce interactions. Customers must trust that sellers will provide the services they advertise, and will not disclose private customer information. Trust in the supplier’s competence and honesty will influence the customer’s decision as to which supplier to choose. Sellers must trust that the buyer is able to pay for goods or services, is authorised to make purchases on behalf of an organisation or is not underage for accessing services or purchasing certain goods. Thus, trust management has to be an intrinsic part of e-commerce for it to achieve the same acceptance levels as traditional commerce. However, business transactions span multiple organisations, possibly in different countries and not all of these administrative domains may be trusted to the same degree. A domain may need to support a range of different trust relationships and hence