Trust and E-Commerce in Food Supply Chains: Configuration of a Trust Environment for Electronic Commerce

The current use of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce in food supply chains is opposed to the opportunities from e-commerce between food firms. Reasons for the reluctant adoption of B2B e-commerce come from the information asymmetry in agrifood products plus the perceived risk and uncertainty related to e-commerce. To overcome this perceived risk and uncertainty, trust is considered as predominant enabler. However, the problem is how trust may be generated in B2B e-commerce in food chains. This paper proposes the generation of trust in B2B e-commerce in the agrifood sector through “blended e-commerce”, which combines traditional transaction elements with the efficiency potential of e-commerce.