A Framework for Creating a Sustainable Community in Virtual Environments

Abstract

There is much interest in using the virtual community as a business medium to establish a relationship between customer and stakeholders. While studies on virtual communities have widely discussed ways to sustain this community, there is the need for a complete framework or methodology to regulate members? interactions so as to produce sustainability. In order to achieve this sustainability, it is important to consider the existing trust relationship between community members and ways to identify an untrustworthy agent in a community. In this paper, we propose a framework for creating a sustainable community in Virtual Environments. The role of a third party agent and the effectiveness of continuous performance monitoring are the main keys to creating a sustainable virtual community. We also present the results of an experimental study. The study shows that the framework will help the administrator to identify all non-compliant agents after a transaction or interactions.