Knowledge sharing network based trust management for agent-mediated ecommerce

Abstract

The efficiency of e-commerce can be increased through the usage of intelligent agents which negotiate and execute contracts on behalf of their owners. The knowledge of trust to secure interactions between autonomous agents is crucial for the success of agent-mediated e-commerce. Building a knowledge sharing network among peer agents helps to overcome trust-related boundaries in an intelligent environment where least human intervention is desired. Based on this network, this paper proposes a trust management model integrating external trustworthiness ratings from other peer agents and the internal assessment of past experiences with the peer node. Knowledge of trust is developed over time through learning from prior business interactions and problems related to peer agents' dishonesty can be solved.