Blockchain-based connectivity within digital platforms and ecosystems in international business

Abstract

Digital globalization enabled by disruptive technologies has opened a myriad of ways to create value, warranting a cross-disciplinary research agenda on digital connectivity in international business (IB). Given the scarcity of understanding about the role of specific technologies enabling value creation through digital connectivity, we investigate how blockchain-based digital connectivity shapes value creation in international digital platforms and ecosystems (DPEs). Building on a comparative empirical analysis of international DPEs enabled by different types of blockchain technology, we develop a typology of blockchain-based connectivity in IB. The typology demonstrates how different blockchain technology types enable different kinds of connectivity, resulting in diverse approaches to value creation within newly emerging forms of DPEs. These findings contextualize the concept of digital connectivity, enabling more precise explanations of blockchain's adoption in DPEs, and expand the conceptualization of DPEs, with three new types emerging from the utilization of blockchain-based connectivity. Moreover, this interdisciplinary explanation reveals why certain features theoretically attributed to blockchain (e.g., decentralization, trust) do not always realize or support value creation in practice in IB based on the DPE business model.