How to design a good reputation system for an online peer-to-peer platform

In this thesis, the fundamentals of online reputation systems were explored and explained. After performing a background research, the metrics that can effectively evaluate the performance of a reputation system were defined. The performance of a reputation system is determined by its credibility, along with the intention to review that it elicits. Based on this principle, a conceptual framework was designed that can aid in the creation and evaluation of online reputation systems. The conceptual framework predicts the performance of reputation systems by classifying reputation system features in either `credibility' or `intention to review'. This framework was later improved by testing its features in two experiments. The first experiment was exploratory: the goal was to determine the effectiveness of the gathered methods to positively influence credibility and intention to review, and to find out how people perceived these methods. The results of the first experiment led to the second experiment, which focused on four topics: the distinction in behavior between platform users and non-platform users, the degree of which the credibility of a review is influenced by its textual content, reluctance in online user feedback, and finally, how gamification features are perceived by users. Results of both of these experiments led to an improvement in the initial conceptual framework, which concludes the thesis.