Openness as a Catalyst for Organisational Capabilities in Digital Trust Assessment: Insights from the Financial Sector

The growing reliance of financial institutions on ICT third parties has increased the need for effective thirdparty risk management. The introduction of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the European Union highlights the systemic importance of managing these dependencies, as ICT services support core operations and expose organizations to new vulnerabilities. In this context, digital trust (DT) has emerged as a key concept, reflecting the confidence that an ICT third party demonstrates competence, reliability, security, and compliance. By applying information asymmetry theory and the dynamic capabilities framework, this study explores how openness in DT assessments can improve an organization's DT assessment and management capabilities, thereby strengthening the overall third-party risk management landscape. The study is based on a survey of employees in Baltic banks involved in ICT thirdparty management. The results show that openness in DT assessment criteria positively contributes to organizational capabilities for digital trust assessment and management. The findings advance theory by linking openness to sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities and provide practical implications for institutions seeking to enhance the ICT thirdparty resilience.