Seller's creditworthiness in the online service market: A study from the control perspective

Information asymmetry and the community-based nature of online marketplaces may lead to opportunistic behaviors by sellers. This study investigates seller opportunism in the online service market from the control perspective. By analyzing data on online transactions and trade disputes from the largest crowdsourcing platform in China, Zhubajie, this study found that a seller's opportunistic behaviors, such as the non-delivery or late delivery of the final solution, are related to social and formal control in the market. Specifically, social control, i.e., the number of seller fans and members the seller follows, negatively affects opportunistic behaviors by the seller; the seller's reputation score negatively affects opportunistic behaviors, but the effect is weakened when social control is high. The seller's rank in the market is positively related to opportunistic behaviors. This paper contributes to research on online marketplaces by exploring seller creditworthiness from the control perspective. It provides implications for online marketplaces for controlling seller opportunism and enhancing creditworthiness in the market.