@inbook{65310,
  abstract     = {{Trust between client and consultant is perhaps the most important asset in con-sulting, as this is a highly intangible knowledge-intensive business that concerns is-sues of outstanding strategic and operational importance for the customers. Cli-ents who have not worked with a particular consultancy face considerable risk when they place an order while lacking reliable information about the service quality they can expect. There is a strong link between trust and reputation, as the positive reputation of a consultancy can act as a substitute for a new client’s missing individual experience with the provider, fostering trust in the service quali-ty. Thus, creating, maintaining, and demonstrating a good reputation is of signifi-cant importance for consultancies in a very competitive industry.
To facilitate trustworthy signals, we design and implement a novel reputation mechanism that carries a monetary weight stored on a blockchain network as an immutable, decentralized, and transparent ledger. Based on an implementation in the Ethereum network and subsequent evaluation, we conclude that the reputation mechanism can contribute to leveling information asymmetry and reducing risk while increasing reputation and trust. The mechanism lends itself to being used in other business-to-business scenarios that suffer from similar information asymmetries.}},
  author       = {{Hemmrich, Simon and Nissen, Volker}},
  booktitle    = {{ Advanced Studies in Consulting Research and Digitalization – A Scientific Update on the Digital Transformation of the Consulting Industry. Springer.}},
  editor       = {{Nissen, Volker}},
  keywords     = {{Reputation Systems, Consulting, Design Science Invention, Incentive, Blockchain, Monetary ratings, building trust, reduce information asymmetry consulting, B2B reputation system, consulting risk reduction, supplier evaluation system}},
  title        = {{{A blockchain-based reputation system for consulting}}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}

@article{60050,
  abstract     = {{Reputation systems to rate companies’ performances remain largely unexplored inresearch and are scarcely used in business-to-business (B2B) practice. Such systemsare essential for businesses seeking trustworthy partners, as they help reduce infor-mation asymmetry, lower buyers’ transaction risks, and allow high-quality serviceproviders to justify premium pricing. Unlike traditional review-based systems in thebusiness-to-consumer (B2C) context, we propose a B2B reputation mechanism inwhich buyers commit to a rating payment before a transaction. Once the buyer final-izes the rating, this payment is executed and recorded on a blockchain as an immu-table, secure ledger. Our system mimics natural trust-building mechanisms with rat-ings that are (1) monetary-based, (2) stake-based, (3) non-aggregated, (4) involvecounter-ratings, (5) selectively sellable, (6) individually comparable, (7) stored ona blockchain, (8) and monitored by a third instance. This system provides a novelapproach to fostering trust in B2B transactions by reducing information asymme-try and transaction risk. We illustrate the mechanism’s application in the consultingsector. Our analysis has identified 23 institutional trust and distrust dimensions thatpromote establishing institutional trust through the proposed mechanism. Qualita-tive interviews suggest that, while complex and challenging to apply, this mecha-nism can foster trust in B2B transactions. Given the low maturity in the applicationdomain—rating professional business services with business reputation systems—and solution domain—using monetary stakes for ratings, this system stands as apotential invention.}},
  author       = {{Hemmrich, Simon and Nissen, Volker and Beverungen, Daniel and Pauls, Josias Daniel Miño}},
  journal      = {{Information Systems and e-Business Management}},
  keywords     = {{Information asymmetry, Trust, Reputation system, Monetary rating, Blockchain, Consulting}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  title        = {{{Blockchain‑based reputation systemsfor business‑to‑business services: designing a reputation mechanism to reduce information asymmetry in professional consulting}}},
  doi          = {{https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-025-00702-9}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}