Blockchain-based reputation systems for business-to-business services: designing a reputation mechanism to reduce information asymmetry in professional consulting

Reputation systems to rate companies’ performances remain largely unexplored in research and are scarcely used in business-to-business (B2B) practice. Such systems are essential for businesses seeking trustworthy partners, as they help reduce information asymmetry, lower buyers' transaction risks, and allow high-quality service providers to justify premium pricing. Unlike traditional review-based systems in the business-to-consumer (B2C) context, we propose a B2B reputation mechanism in which buyers commit to a rating payment before a transaction. Once the buyer finalizes the rating, this payment is executed and recorded on a blockchain as an immutable, secure ledger. Our system mimics natural trust-building mechanisms with ratings that are (1) monetary-based, (2) stake-based, (3) non-aggregated, (4) involve counter-ratings, (5) selectively sellable, (6) individually comparable, (7) stored on a blockchain, (8) and monitored by a third instance. This system provides a novel approach to fostering trust in B2B transactions by reducing information asymmetry and transaction risk. We illustrate the mechanism’s application in the consulting sector. Our analysis has identified 23 institutional trust and distrust dimensions that promote establishing institutional trust through the proposed mechanism. Qualitative interviews suggest that, while complex and challenging to apply, this mechanism can foster trust in B2B transactions. Given the low maturity in the application domain—rating professional business services with business reputation systems—and solution domain—using monetary stakes for ratings, this system stands as a potential invention.