Information Assurance in B2C e-Commerce Transactions: A Process-Oriented Framework and Empirical Analysis of Websites using Semantic Networks

What aspects of information assurance can be identified in Business-to-Consumer (B-toC) online transactions? The purpose of this research is to build a theoretical framework for studying information assurance based on a detailed analysis of academic literature for online exchanges in B-to-C electronic commerce. Further, a semantic network content analysis is conducted to analyze the representations of information assurance in B-to-C electronic commerce in the real online market place (transaction Web sites of selected Fortune 500 firms). The results show that the transaction websites focus on some perspectives and not on others. For example, we see an emphasis on the importance of technological and consumer behavioral elements of information assurance such as issues of online security and privacy. Further corporate practitioners place most emphasis on transaction-related information assurance issues. Interestingly, the product and institutional dimension of information assurance in online transaction websites are only