Investigation of the Correlation Between Trust and Reputation in B2C e-Commerce Using Alexa Ranking

As a general approach to gain electronic trust in business-to-consumer e-commerce, the customers select valid brands based on the authenticity of the Web and regulatory mechanisms in order to facilitate purchase decision process. This approach is not suitable for purchase from small companies without brands active in e-commerce. To purchase from these companies, we should follow other e-trust approaches. One of the approaches applied in information literate is to refer to valid ranking sites like Alexa rank. Here, we have evaluated the correlation between Alexa rank and the formal measures of trust in electronic space, and have suggested a new method for the e-trust that is based on an electronic reputation built on the existing ranking results given by the ranking sites. To this end, we selected 100 store Websites based on regulatory lists, and the formal criteria of trust for them were measured along with the correlation of these criteria with Alexa rank.