Determining the Idiosyncrasy of Blockchain: An Affordances Perspective

Abstract

IS researchers' assessment of blockchain’s business value varies considerably, resulting in diverging recommendations on how companies should apply the technology. To develop a more uniform understanding of the potential of blockchain, we propose an affordances perspective to identify action potentials of blockchain. We apply a critical realist perspective to analyze blockchain applications of the thirty largest financial institutions globally, resulting in a three-layered affordances model. While the model comprises technical, design, and business affordances, we assert that business affordances determine the idiosyncrasy of blockchain technology. By shifting the focus on business affordance, we contribute to a shared understanding and thereby bridge the chasm between different assessments of the blockchain’s impact on companies and pushing full-fledged applications of the technology forward.