Towards Levels of Assurance for Data Trustworthiness A Novel Framework to Promote Trust in Inter-Organisational Data Sharing

As data is increasingly acknowledged as a valuable asset, inter-organisational data sharing has recently received much attention. Yet, despite its potential, organisations are still hesitant to engage in data sharing activities, with a lack of trust mentioned as the main barrier. Existing work to mitigate trust barriers usually focuses only on data security concerns or risks from a data provider perspective. In this work, we highlight the unbalanced view on trust and focus on the data usage risks data consumers face. Following design science research, we propose a conceptual, first-iteration artifact called Levels of Assurance for Data Trustworthiness (Data LoA). Data LoA aims to provide an overarching framework to assure data trustworthiness in inter-organisational data sharing. Assuring data trustworthiness is suggested to improve data consumers' risk assessment and decision-making capabilities, and enhances trust and transparency between data providers and consumers. This paper is focused on outlining central mechanisms of our new concept, intending to facilitate a wider discussion on the technical and social aspects and requirements of establishing data trustworthiness.