Why Blockchain: A Socio-technical Perspective on the Motives of Business Consortia Members to Engage with Blockchain Technology

Abstract

Despite the large number of resources that blockchain has, and continues to mobilize, what makes the technology unique and why people engage with it is not yet fully understood. Hence, “Why blockchain?” is a question that many scientists and managers still ask themselves or must to answer when facing the technology's critics. While the question is undoubtedly justified, it cannot always be answered from a purely technical perspective. Thus, in this study, we apply a socio-technical information systems artifact perspective and analyze the reasons managers involved in the blockchain consortia have for using blockchain technology. Based on a multiple-case study of 19 blockchain consortia, including interviews with 53 stakeholders, we explicate 19 different motives that justify engagement with the technology in practice. Further, we identify the systemic character of tokenization and the importance of the socio-technical interplay of aspects like power decentralization that justify the necessity of blockchain.