Developing a Conceptual Framework to Evaluate Public B2B E-Marketplaces

Business-to-business (B2B) e-marketplaces are Internet-based inter-organizational trading platforms that facilitate and foster the exchange of information, products and services, and other business transactions among many buyers and sellers. Despite the proliferation of B2B e-marketplaces, many B2B e-marketplaces have failed. A well-developed framework or standard for evaluating B2B emarketplaces is scarce in the literature. Previous studies indicate the need for a comprehensive evaluation framework for evaluating performance of B2B e-marketplaces. This research presented a framework to evaluate performance of public B2B e-marketplaces that support small exporters. Factors contributing to the performance and effectiveness of B2B e-marketplaces were explored. The proposed conceptual framework integrated factors from both B2B e-marketplace performance and Web site evaluation perspectives. Expert interviews using a semi-structured approach were conducted in order to verify the proposed conceptual framework. On the basis of thorough review of literature and expert interviews conducted, this study proposed eleven factors to evaluate public B2B e-marketplaces. This research contributes to the literature by building an integrated framework to evaluate the performance public B2B e-marketplaces. It also contributes to the B2B e-marketplace industry by offering a practical mean for public B2B e-marketplace market makers or managers to evaluate and improve their emarketplaces.