From a consumers’ perspective, Blockchain Technology (BCT) holds the potential to decrease transaction costs, improve privacy and redesign social interactions, which potentially leads to enhanced consumer power in transactional relationships. Nevertheless, only a few consumers use Blockchain-based applications consciously. By combining earlier research about BCT acceptance with different conceptualisations in the technology acceptance field (i.e. the Technology Acceptance Model and Rogers’ Diffusion Theory), a Blockchain-specific model to explain the usage intention has been developed and validated by conducting an online survey among 157 German consumers. While most of them have recognised the technology’s existence and confirmed its general relevance, many consumers do not know how to access and profit from BCT. Integrating the results of a Structural Equation Model and Pairwise Comparisons between typical attributes of Blockchain-based applications, specific beliefs about BCT usage are found to have a remarkable impact on consumers’ acceptance. Based on the results, strategies to promote the acceptance of BCT among consumers are discussed from a marketer’s, developer’s and researcher’s point of view.
Rongen Zhang, Amrita George, Jongwoo Kim, Veneetia Johnson · 5 authors
BACKGROUND: The potential of blockchain technology to achieve strategic goals, such as value-based care, is increasingly being recognized by both researchers and practitioners. However, current research and practices lack comprehensive approaches for evaluating the benefits of blockchain applications. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to develop a framework for holistically assessing the performance of blockchain initiatives in providing value-based care by extending the existing balanced scorecard (BSC) evaluation framework. METHODS: Based on a review of the literature on value-based health care, blockchain technology, and methods for evaluating initiatives in disruptive technologies, we propose an extended BSC method for holistically evaluating blockchain applications in the provision of value-based health care. The proposed method extends the BSC framework, which has been extensively used to measure both financial and nonfinancial performance of organizations. The usefulness of our proposed framework is further demonstrated via a case study. RESULTS: We describe the extended BSC framework, which includes five perspectives (both financial and nonfinancial) from which to assess the appropriateness and performance of blockchain initiatives in the health care domain. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed framework moves us toward a holistic evaluation of both the financial and nonfinancial benefits of blockchain initiatives in the context of value-based care and its provision.
The main idea of the study was to determine the influence of the antecedents (trialability and compexity) on the existing constructs of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and to test measurement invariance on the relationship between the latent constructs used in this extended version of Technology Acceptance Model (ETAM). A survey questionnaire was administered on Cyptocurrency mobile applicantions users and a total of 41 responses were collected. The research model was assessed using SEM-PLS approach. The structural model was then tested in order to establish validity & reliabelity. The invariance test was first performed on the measurement model and then on the structural model using SmartPLS 3.0. The predictor variables in ETAM were able to explain 44,9% of the variance in actual usage of Cryptocurrency mobile applications.
Yoon-Chow Yeong, Khairul Shafee Kalid, Savita K. Sugathan
Since the inception of the first cryptocurrency in 2008, cryptocurrency has been receiving global attention from the public, media, merchants and regulators. Although the general sentiment suggested cryptocurrencies which leverage on blockchain technology might eventually replace the paper currency as the mainstream currency, the Malaysian regulators are still unsure that a well-established cryptocurrency ecosystem can come into place anytime soon. Unfortunately, there is a lack of cryptocurrency acceptance study, particularly in Malaysia (developing country context). Hence, this paper aims to propose a research model that integrates cryptocurrency dimension antecedents with Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology2 (UTAUT2) constructs to examine the factors that influence cryptocurrency acceptance. This study employs a quantitative approach by collecting online survey questionnaire data through the means of cryptocurrency community group on social media. The survey instrument was reviewed by four experts from the field of blockchain and 36 responses have been gathered from individuals who have cryptocurrency knowledge for pilot study. To further evaluate the reliability and validity of the proposed measures, the measurement model was assessed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with partial least square approach (PLS). SmartPLS software was used for PLS-SEM analyses. In this paper, the proposed research model contributes a high-level overview of and valuable insights into the potential cryptocurrency acceptance factors to regulatory bodies, practitioners as well as prospective cryptocurrency users. The findings of pilot study confirm that the measurement items and constructs in the proposed model are reliable and valid.
Redhwan Al-Amri, Nur Haryani Zakaria, Adib Habbal, Suhaidi Hassan
In this research, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is performed to identify the carried-out research topics related to cryptocurrency adoption and models that have been used as well as the current adoption challenges that need to be overcome in future studies.
Distributed ledger technology allows for data to be recorded, shared, and synchronized across multiple distributed data stores. This brought forth the idea of using this technology to build consensus. Implementing this technology within the Syndicated Loan Market through Smart Contracts allows for reduced manual labor and back-office workloads as well as the removal of reconciliation and corporate actions. As a result, counterparty risk and settlement times will be minimized, and performance and transparency for regular reporting will increase. However, an individual's embrace of this new technology will determine its successful implementation. To address this issue, this article examines the trust model, trust in technology drivers, and the revised unified theory of acceptance and use of the technology model to construct the trust and adoption of the technology model. This article culminates in guidelines for the implementation of Smart Contracts. Avenues for future work include the investigation of a multimotive information systems acceptance model.
The purposes of the study are threefold: (1) develop key successful factors of blockchain platform for micro-enterprises based on Balanced Scorecard (BSC), (2) find out the correlation between the key successful factors of blockchain platform for micro-enterprises, and (3) understand the perception of micro-enterprise blockchain and the difference between theoretical guidance and practical application. This study combines Interpretative Structural Modeling Method, (ISM) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to analyze the causal relationships and hierarchical structures of the 12 key successful factors of blockchain platform for micro-enterprises and understand the correlation between factors. The 12 key successful factors developed based on the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard, and the questionnaire designs based on the concept of DEMATEL, and then analyzed data by DEMATEL and ISM methods to understand the correlation between key factors. The research results show that the key successful factors of blockchain platform for micro-enterprises include "brand equity", "security and anti-counterfeiting", "sales growth", "transparency and clear", "trust", "consensus mechanism", "traceability", "consistency", "tracking", "innovation management", "international", "organizational adaptation", in which consumer "trust" plays an important role. Micro-enterprises can use blockchain to expand the market, provide customers with better service quality, and bring sales growth to micro-enterprises.
BACKGROUND: Nowadays, a number of mechanisms and tools are being used by health care organizations and physicians to electronically exchange the personal health information of patients. The main objectives of different methods of health information exchange (HIE) are to reduce health care costs, minimize medical errors, and improve the coordination of interorganizational information exchange across health care entities. The main challenges associated with the common HIE systems are privacy concerns, security risks, low visibility of system transparency, and lack of patient control. Blockchain technology is likely to disrupt the current information exchange models utilized in the health care industry. OBJECTIVE: Little is known about patients' perceptions and attitudes toward the implementation of blockchain-enabled HIE networks, and it is still not clear if patients (as one of the main HIE stakeholders) are likely to opt in to the applications of this technology in HIE initiatives. Thus, this study aimed at exploring the core value of blockchain technology in the health care industry from health care consumers' views. METHODS: To recognize the potential applications of blockchain technology in health care practices, we designed 16 information exchange scenarios for controlled Web-based experiments. Overall, 2013 respondents participated in 16 Web-based experiments. Each experiment described an information exchange condition characterized by 4 exchange mechanisms (ie, direct, lookup, patient-centered, and blockchain), 2 types of health information (ie, sensitive vs nonsensitive), and 2 types of privacy policy (weak vs strong). RESULTS: The findings show that there are significant differences in patients' perceptions of various exchange mechanisms with regard to patient privacy concern, trust in competency and integrity, opt-in intention, and willingness to share information. Interestingly, participants hold a favorable attitude toward the implementation of blockchain-based exchange mechanisms for privacy protection, coordination, and information exchange purposes. This study proposed the potentials and limitations of a blockchain-based attempt in the HIE context. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this research should be of interest to both academics and practitioners. The findings propose potential limitations of a blockchain-based HIE that should be addressed by health care organizations to exchange personal health information in a secure and private manner. This study can contribute to the research in the blockchain area and enrich the literature on the use of blockchain in HIE efforts. Practitioners can also identify how to leverage the benefit of blockchain to promote HIE initiatives nationwide.
Despite cryptocurrency is deemed as a core evolution to the field of financial technologies, its legal status remains debatable over the globe. While the Malaysian government has launched cryptocurrency regulations in 2019, it is expected cryptocurrency will still be around in the near future. However, there is a lack of cryptocurrency acceptance study in Malaysia context. The primary goal of this study is to propose a research model that combines cryptocurrency variables with the constructs embedded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology2 (UTAUT2) to investigate the influencing factors of cryptocurrency acceptance in a developing country context.
Purva Grover, Arpan Kumar Kar, Marijn Janssen, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan
Although blockchain has attracted a great deal of attention from academia and industry there is a lack of studies on acceptance drivers. This study explores blockchain acceptance by mining the collective intelligence of users on Twitter. It maps blockchain user acceptance drivers to technology acceptance constructs. The analysis shows that users are attracted by security, privacy, transparency, trust and traceability aspects provided by blockchain. On Twitter more discussions on blockchain benefits than on drawbacks. Initial coin offering (ICO) is extensively discussed. The study provides guidelines for managers and concludes by presenting the limitations of the study along with future research directions.
Mario Arias-Oliva, Jorge Pelegrín Borondo, Gustavo Matías-Clavero
The first commercial transaction with the first cryptocurrency in 2010 marked the start of a revolution in transactions. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies will dramatically transform how we do transactions, just as the Internet revolutionized how we communicate. Currently, more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies are quoted on the market, and many more are being launched in initial coin offerings for use as an exchange method in a specific business ecosystem or as rights to assets or liabilities. As an emerging fintech, cryptocurrencies open up many opportunities, but they also pose significant challenges and limitations. This paper analyzes the key factors for the successful development of a cryptocurrency from a consumer-behavior perspective. Using a technology acceptance theoretical framework, we test a model able to explain almost 85% of the intention to use cryptocurrencies. Surprisingly, risk was not a significant factor. This could be because most of the respondents considered operating with cryptocurrencies to be risky; the lack of variability in their responses to the questions about perceived risk would explain this lack of explanatory power. However, willingness to manage cryptocurrency risk could be a precondition for adoption. The performance expectancy for a given cryptocurrency was the most important factor for its success. The research was conducted in Spain with college-educated adults with basic knowledge of the Internet.
Cryptocurrencies are around for less than a decade but their usage steadily increases. There is no doubt that functional, social (cool-factor) and financial (high risk -high reward investment) motives drive its adoption and usage. But it is also worth to investigate whether personality and demographics can play some role in the adoption. The research have focused on impact of personality traits (according to the Big Five Inventory framework) on the usage of cryptocurrencies. The research was conducted in the Czech Republic. Respondents were university students, 478 in total (272 male, 206 female; 20.5 years old on average), of whom 62 respondents indicated that they use cryptocurrencies. Gender, age, and type of student job were used as control variables. With regards to the results, openness to experience, gender, and type of student job influence the adoption. Subjects more open to experience, male, and working full time in the field they study use cryptocurrencies more.
Systems that use blockchain technology to improve the know-your-customer (KYC) process have only been proposed at a conceptual level and all share certain attributes that make their adoption very difficult. We propose and program a blockchain-based system that reduces and shares out among the financial institutions (FIs) that work with a customer the costs of the KYC process and also makes it possible for FIs to dynamically update information related to customers and disseminates this information among participating FIs. Additionally, our system addresses some of the attributes that hinder the adoption of previously proposed solutions by FIs. The result is a stand-alone solution that reduces the cost of the KYC process without requiring any central instance to store the customer's data, and in which FIs share the initial costs of the KYC process as well as the running costs of keeping the information about customers up to date.
Falilat O. Jimoh, Usman Gambo Abdullahi, Isa Ali Ibrahim
Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology is a peer-reviewed international journal, which publishes original papers promoting theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.
Jan 1, 2019·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
While interest in blockchain technology and applications increases, research studying the role of trust as an element that leads potential users and consumers to adopt and accept the technology remains scarce. This study conducts acceptance research that expands beyond traditional acceptance models and explores the role of trust from the user/consumer perspective. It provides comprehensive insights from the user/consumer angle and a deeper understanding of the role of trust in blockchain adoption. Using an inductive research approach that builds theory from qualitative empirical data, this paper identifies trust as a critical benefit of blockchain technology and applications, encompassing both functional (economic and system-/ process-related) as well as emotional benefits (social and personal). As trust spans across functional and emotional benefit dimensions, this study suggests that trust is a key driver for user/consumer adoption of blockchain technology and applications.
The aim of this study is to understand the blockchain adoption behaviour in Brazilian supply chains. Specifically, the study aims to unlock the potential of social influence; taking into consideration workers from the Brazilian supply chains. We proposed a model using constructs from a unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT). The models were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and the findings indicated the power of social influence in predicting other UTAUT constructs. In addition, this study shows the mediation effect of effort expectancy and the facilitating conditions in the relationship between social influence and the behavioural intention to adopt blockchain. Finally, our findings bring essential theoretical and managerial implications.
Jan 1, 2019·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
How to keep customers motivated in participative behaviors remains one major challenge in extant loyalty program (LP) studies. While some companies have initiated efforts to utilize blockchain-based distributed ledgers and smart contract capabilities to enhance customer experience and improve LP efficiencies, academic assessment of blockchain application in the LP context remains scarce. This research attempts to establish a theoretical overview of how the key natures of blockchain influence customers’ varying motivations (economy, autonomy, competence and relatedness) and perceived value, which consequently induce participative behaviors in a loyalty points context. Then, using an exploratory case study of Bubichain in China, we verify that the blockchain-enabled loyalty points scheme not only improves customers’ economic perceived value by meeting their economic motives, as the traditional one does, but also enhances their social interaction and psychological self-fulfillment value perception by meeting their intrinsic motivations, thus increasing customers’ experience and participation behaviors.
Decentralized applications (DApps) – digital applications that operate on blockchain and smart contract technologies – have proliferated across diverse industrial sectors. With the recent surge in DApp adoption, we have yet to understand the impetus behind this rapid expansion. Our research aims to bridge this gap by examining the role and extent of peer influence on individual decisions to adopt DApps. Given the inherently peer-to-peer nature of blockchain and the robust sense of community amongst users, this influence is expected to be significant. To identify evidence, we empirically study Ethereum, the world's largest DApp platform. We utilize an unprecedented dataset encompassing the entire lifetime of Ethereum, from inception to the present day. Our findings reveal a positive correlation between DApp adoption and the decisions of proximate peers. We further uncover that the magnitude of peer influence varies depending on network structure characteristics, including network size, density, and the degree of decentralization. These results substantiate the powerful role of peer influence in driving the diffusion of DApps, operating through a variety of mechanisms. Such insights could offer valuable guidance for industry practitioners to devise targeted marketing strategies that capitalize on this peer influence to optimize DApp adoption rates.
This article has developed a structural equation model, aimed at evaluating the impact factors on people’s holding intention of Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency created by the Blockchain technology. Specifically, this study directs its attention on the Bitcoin holder's perceived value and risk, the moderating effects of gender, income, age, and the experience of digital token provided by the respondents. The conclusions are: (1) The majority of individuals do not have any understanding of the values or risks of Bitcoin; (2) The more transaction and speculative risks of Bitcoin people perceive, the less government intervention they are expected to have. Nevertheless, even if government intervention is necessary, it would not impact their holding intention; (3) The higher value of Bitcoin people perceive, the more government intervention people would prefer. Despite this preference, people's holding intention remains intact. However, its degree of influence is definitely less conspicuous than the above effect of the second conclusion; and (4) The government advocacy about the values and risks of Bitcoin should be differentiated by the more nuanced factors such as gender, income, the experience of digital token usage, and age of users, in order to obtain an effective regulation of Bitcoin.
Abstract The use of blockchain technology has increased tremendously over the last decade. Blockchain continues to evolve and new features and capabilities are developed continuously. Although the use of the technology started in cryptocurrency (specifically, Bitcoin), it has expanded to other areas that can benefit from a shared, secure, ledger. This article investigates the potential impact of blockchain technology on the accounting profession. This article analyzes data security and privacy considerations, technology, adoption, and implementation considerations, and some considerations that relate specifically to accounting and auditing. We find that the unique needs of an accounting information system may not be a good match for blockchain as it currently exists. While we explain that blockchain may deliver many benefits, particularly in the areas of data reliability and the financial statement audit, we identify several factors, which raise significant questions about whether blockchain will ever be significantly integrated in the accounting function. Chief among those concerns is the scalability of the technology at an acceptable cost. While significant investment has and will be made for further development of blockchain business applications, it is our assessment that proponents of blockchain integration in accounting have not yet made the economic case for it. We also have significant concerns about whether blockchain technology can adequately address risks associated with data security and privacy. Addressing all these issues will be a minimum requirement for gaining widespread acceptance by firms and their accountants.
Jan 1, 2019·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Given the hype around the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, blockchain technology (BCT) has also received considerable attention outside the financial sector. Multiple applications of BCT in supply chain management (SCM) are discussed in business practice and there is increasing interest in this topic within the academic community. In this paper, we intend to combine these two perspectives on BCT in SCM to summarize a current state of the art and to derive avenues for further research. For this purpose, a comprehensive framework of use case clusters of BCT in SCM is developed according to the distinctive features of BCT. The framework is used to analyze 53 applications of BCT in SCM which are derived from a systematic literature review and a secondary dataset of blockchain-driven innovations in SCM. We identify five emerging use case clusters of BCT in SCM which clearly extend the scope beyond frequently mentioned applications such as product tracking and tracing.