Guest Editors' Introduction

Trust is a fundamental consideration for the growth and stability of markets and communities because trust guides decisions about interactions between humans and organizations. New forms of markets and communities are created online, but the very nature of this online environment makes trust management challenging. It is for example common to request services from a website we have never heard of before, and from which we might never request a service again in the future. Combined with perceptions of minimal or non-existent law enforcement, participants in online markets and communities are often vulnerable to many forms of fraud and deception.