Giuliano Sansone, Flavio Santalucia, Davide Viglialoro, Paolo Landoni
Abstract Blockchain is a promising and emerging technology. Despite the number of studies on the subject, several studies require further exploration of the relationship between blockchain and social innovation. Moreover, there is an increasing interest in social entrepreneurship and in how technical solutions may address social or environmental issues. Hence, this work aims at understanding how a venture can apply blockchain technology for social good. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on a case study and builds on stakeholder theory as a theoretical background. The case study under review is a social venture working on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 10. Our findings present four peculiarities of blockchain for social good: (i) reliability, (ii) transparency, (iii) decentralization, and (iv) accessibility. Moreover, the present study develops a framework on blockchain for social good based on the possible stakeholders' involvement. Finally, four challenges related to blockchain for social good are presented and discussed.
Earlier research has relied on well-established technology acceptance models to investigate the adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) in various domains. However, citing criticism from other scholars, we show that this approach is severely limited because of portraying users as passive absorbers of technology, failure to recognise that users can find novel applications for the technology, triviality of the results, inability to add new insights and creating the ‘illusion of cumulative tradition.’ Therefore, departing from this earlier approach, the current study mobilises Cultivation Theory (CT) and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to propose and empirically investigate the direct impact of mass media, social media and technophilia as well as moderating impact of technophilia on BC adoption intentions at a more general level. Responses collected through a structured questionnaire from 416 professionals working in different Pakistani organisations were used to test the proposed model by application of PLS-SEM. The results of the study indicate that mass media, social media and technophilia positively and significantly affect an individual's intention to adopt blockchain technology. In addition, technophilia moderates social and mass media influence on the intention to adopt blockchain technology. The study makes a major theoretical contribution to BCT adoption scholarship.
Tourism destinations serious game (TDSG) requires the ability to respond to players through recommendations for selecting appropriate tourist destinations for them as potential tourists. This research utilizes ambient intelligence technology to regulate the response visualized through a choice of serious game scenarios. This research uses the Multi-Criteria Recommender System (MCRS) to produce recommendations for selecting tourist destinations as a reference for selecting scenario visualizations. Recommender systems require a decentralized, distributed, and secure data-sharing concept to distribute data and assignments between nodes. We propose using the Ethereum blockchain platform to handle data circulation between parts of the system and implement decentralized technology. We also use the known and unknown rating (KUR) approach to improve the system's ability to generate recommendations for players who can provide rating values or those who cannot. This study uses the tourism theme of Batu City, Indonesia, so we use personal characteristics (PC) and rating of destinations attribute (RDA) data for tourists in that city. The test results show that the blockchain can handle decentralized data-sharing well to ensure PC and RDA data circulation between nodes. MCRS has produced recommendations for players based on the KUR approach, indicating that the known rating has better accuracy than the unknown rating. Furthermore, the player can choose and run the tour visualization through game scenarios that appear based on the recommendation ranking results.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that have recently gained significant popularity, particularly in the digital art sector. The success of NFTs and other blockchain-based innovations depends on their ac-acceptance and use by consumers. This study aims to understand the impact of moral values on the acceptance of NFTs. Based on a quantitative survey with over 800 complete responses, the analysis shows that moral aspects of NFTs are indeed important for potential users. However, there is an attitude-behavior gap, as the positive impact of moral values on the intention to use NFTs is not reflected in the actual current usage of NFTs by the respondents. This study contributes to knowledge by providing new empirical data on the acceptance of NFTs and highlighting the role of moral values on the acceptance decision.
Headless brands challenge the idea that a brand is centralised and our assumptions about what a brand is and how it works. Headless brands refer to community-driven brand dynamics, without a centralised managerial body. This paper shows the rise of headless brands, how the idea of branding evolved, as well as the challenges they face. To do this, it illustrates the wider context of evolving brandconsumer relationships and explores how fandom, communities, cryptocurrencies and decentralisation are transforming the very nature of what a brand can be. It concludes by discussing how brands can take advantage of these trends to remain future fit.
The presence of cryptocurrencies as means of trading and investing has presented new opportunities to make profits. Unfortunately, investment bias becomes a phenomenon that accompanies investing behavior for many people which actually results in losses and regrets. This study uses a narrative review method to identify cognitive, affective, and contextual factors that correlate with investment biases in cryptocurrency. The results of the review indicate that a number of factors - i.e. self-affirmation, anticipation of postdecision dissonance, fear of missing out (FoMO), overconfidence, perception of the investment process and regulation - play a pivotal role in explaining investment biases in cryptocurrency.
Preeti Jain, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Ruchi Mishra, Nripendra P. Rana
Owing to its unparalleled transparency and disintermediation characteristics, blockchain technology has a huge potential to transform the tourism and hospitality industry. Airlines and hotel companies are now turning to blockchain for its multifaceted applications, yet its holistic value realization in the sector is far from reality. The existing literature in terms of theoretical and methodological underpinnings concerning blockchain technology integrated Smart Tourism 4.0 remains limited and fragmented across its lifecycle. With a structured, systematic literature review approach, the study aims to conduct an in-depth review of 56 selected papers obtained from a specific search criterion employed across widespread repositories of Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost databases, capturing the period from Jan 2012 to May 2022. The study identifies critical research gaps in technology awareness, particularly around the maturity index for a BCT-integrated digitized business model. The emerging themes based on the primary focus areas are summarized and extended further to provide future research directions on the basis of theory, context, and method (TCM) framework. To advance the readers’ understanding to the next level, a few case examples of linked theory, context and methodology are also provided.由于其无与伦比的透明度和非中介化特征，区块链技术具有巨大的潜力来改变旅游业和酒店业. 航空公司和酒店公司现在正转向区块链, 以实现其多方面的应用, 但其在该领域的整体价值实现远未实现. 关于区块链技术集成智能旅游4.0的理论和方法基础方面的现有文献在其整个生命周期中仍然有限且支离破碎. 该研究采用结构化、系统的文献综述方法, 旨在对从Scopus、科学之网和EBSCO宿主数据库的广泛存储库中采用的特定搜索标准获得的56篇论文进行深入审查, 涵盖2012年1月至2022年5月这段时间. 该研究确定了技术意识方面的关键研究差距, 特别是围绕BCT集成数字化业务模型的成熟度指数. 基于主要关注领域的新兴主题被进一步总结和扩展, 以在理论、背景和方法(TCM)框架的基础上提供未来的研究方向. 为了将读者的理解提升到一个新的层次, 还提供了一些相关理论、背景和方法的案例.
Blockchain technology is highly regarded for its potential to revolutionize various economic sectors and meet consumer needs. In the tourism industry, blockchain has attracted investor attention due to its characteristics, such as decentralisation, disintermediation, security, transparency, and immutability. Blockchain applications like smart contracts, tokens, cryptocurrencies, decentralised applications (Dapps), and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) have the potential to transform the relationship between tourism providers and tourists by improving trust, automating processes, and reducing costs. However, widespread adoption of blockchain in tourism is limited due to several challenges, including a lack of awareness and expertise, high energy consumption, and a lack of regulatory frameworks for data management and income taxation. Despite these challenges, blockchain technology's potential benefits make it an essential area to watch in the future.
Blockchain-enabled advances (BEAs) are state-of-the-art innovations based on blockchain technology. Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of the four BEAs: smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, play-to-earn games, and non-fungible tokens. These BEAs have implications for the marketing field as they affect consumers and brands. We propose a novel theoretical framework that articulates how the principles that underpin BEAs can impact consumers and then explains how brands can use BEAs to innovate their products and services. The core principles of blockchain technology, as well as enhanced digital connectivity, imply that consumers can become more in control of their data and privacy rights, responsible for their choices, and digitally connected. To cater to consumers, brands can use BEAs to roll out technology-focused service innovations, customer-focused service innovations, and product innovations. Based on this perspective, we then advance ten future research questions. This article aims to advance the nascent field of blockchain in marketing.
This study aims to investigate the factors that can predict the behavioral intention of students at public universities in Saudi Arabia to use Cryptocurrency. The UTAUT model was enhanced with the incorporation of security and awareness to develop the theoretical model for this investigation. The paper investigates the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating condition, social influence, security, and awareness on the behavioral intention to use Cryptocurrency. The moderating role of financial literacy was also investigated on the associations between the proposed adoption factors and the behavioral intention to use Cryptocurrency. SmartPLS 3.2.8 software was used to analyse 344 responses collected via an online survey. The Findings showed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, security, and awareness positively impact on behavioral intention to use Cryptocurrency. Moreover, financial literacy moderates the associations between performance expectancy, security, social influence, and behavioral intention. The findings offer valuable insights to Cryptocurrency users, Cryptocurrency developers, and the government of the KSA.
Mohammed Ali Zare Chahooki, Kia Jahanbin, Tole Sutikno
<span>In recent years, cryptocurrency technology has become an attractive area for investment due to its transparency, independence, and non-transactional nature. Many analysts and researchers talk daily on social media about the future of various cryptocurrencies. These ideas can significantly impact whether or not people are willing to invest. This paper provides a framework to help traders learn about the opinions of influential people and organizations in the field. Over the course of six months, the sentiment of more than 90 significant Twitter users was extracted for the proposed framework. In this study, we used the Vader open-source tool for sentiment analysis. This paper provides an excellent opportunity for investment through sentiment analysis<em> </em>of lesser-known or emerging cryptocurrencies. Also in this paper, we introduce the user importance factor to calculate the value of each tweet based on the number of retweets and comments. This factor shows the importance of their opinions instead of considering the number of followers of the authors. This factor causes a lower coefficient to be assigned to an author's opinion if it decreases in importance over time. The results show that in the short and long term, users' opinions are very effective in the market for cryptocurrencies and in predicting its price </span> trend.
Fernando García-Monleón, Anett Erdmann, Ramón Arilla
The use of cryptocurrencies offers attractive business opportunities, in the context of financial services, smart contracts and token-based business models. The objective of this study is to provide a value-based understanding of what drives people to use cryptocurrencies for value exchange. Based on the users’ perceived value of the technology, as logic of decision making, we explore the role of perceived financial value and the perceived emotional value in the intention to use the technology. The unified technology adoption theory provides the potential drivers of these value concepts, which are extended accounting for sustainability. Furthermore, to capture users’ evolving experience with blockchain technologies, we propose the concept of the cryptocurrency knowledge path, capturing the scope and depth of users’ knowledge on the applicability of cryptocurrencies, as potential influence on the value concepts in the decision to actively use cryptocurrencies. For the analysis, a structural model is set up and estimated using partial least square analysis (PLS-SEM). We identify a positive effect of both value concepts, financial and emotional value, on the intention to use cryptocurrencies. However, interestingly, we find that the emotional value assessment is fully mediated through the knowledge path. Furthermore, we find that environmental sustainability considerations are fully mediated through either of the two value concepts. These results provide guidance for a customer-centric, sustainable design and marketing of crypto-projects.
Mohammad Wasiq, Abu Bashar, Syed Akmal, Mustafa Raza Rabbani · 7 authors
Blockchain technology has disrupted the traditional approaches of marketing and introduced altogether contemporary marketing frameworks using its unique capabilities of decentralization, security and transparency. In recent times, this technology has attracted both academicians and practitioners to study the underlying processes and opportunities of the application of blockchain technology in marketing. Although there is an increasing deliberation in researching the use of blockchain in marketing, there exists an intermittent gap in holistic overview of the current trends and future boundaries. This article is an attempt to present a comprehensive current state and prospects of expansion in the research of the application of blockchain technology in marketing using state of the art bibliometric review analysis. The bibliometric analysis using 161 articles from Scopus database revealed the influential aspects of research such as prolific authors, influential documents, countries, affiliations, sources and keywords. Moreover, emerging research streams about the application of blockchain is identified and enumerated using network synthesis and visualization of co-citation, and keywords co-occurrence networks. These findings pave the ways for future research expansion. The results shows that the research on applications of blockchain technology has been maturing over time. However, the research streams reveal that blockchain based marketing framework is still in its infancy stage.
Developments in the field of internet technologies have changed traditional shopping behaviors and led consumers to shop online on electronic commerce sites. Developments in the field of electronic commerce have also diversified payment systems and virtual currencies have started to be used in payments. When it comes to virtual currencies, the first concept that comes to mind recently is cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, which are seen as investment instruments, have started to be used as payment methods by many brands in the global market. At this stage, the basis of the research is to reveal the intention of consumers in Turkey to use cryptocurrencies in online shopping. The goal of the study, which was conducted within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model, was to discover the implications of consumers' perceptions of cryptocurrencies' ease of use, risk, and trust factors on their perceived benefit and intention to use cryptocurrencies in online purchasing. For this aim, it was discovered that perceived ease of use and trust have a significant positive effect on perceived benefit, while perceived risk has a significant negative effect, based on the analysis of data obtained from 391 customers via the online survey technique. In addition, perceived ease of use, trust and benefit also positively affect the intention to use cryptocurrency in online shopping. It is concluded that the perceived risk factor does not affect the intention to use cryptocurrency in online shopping. The findings provide significant theoretical and practical contributions to the fields of cryptocurrency and electronic commerce.
Siddhant Jain, P. Raghu Vamsi, Yashi Agarwal, Jayant Goel
In this paper, we present the design and development of a collaborative knowledge-sharing platform with Blockchain based smart contracts (CodeBlockS) to help increase the trust and efficiency of how developers find the solution to their problems or try to learn new things.The popularity of Question-and-Answer websites such as StackOverflow, Ask, and Yahoo, as well as online course websites like as Udemy, is gradually expanding.Given this increased popularity, the quality and efficiency of user interaction must be improved such that users can try to connect with each other, ask questions about technical problems they are experiencing, or if they want to learn a topic in exchange for a fee and potentially collaborate on a project, or simply share their thoughts on a topic and improve their knowledge and network at the same time.Because these contracts will contain money, CodeBlockS has employed Ethereum Blockchain-based smart contracts to manage the data and money, as blockchain-based smart contracts are immutable and handle payments very securely.In general, social networking websites there are very few people sharing valuable knowledge and many people sharing worthless, time-consuming content that creates distraction.With the CodeBlockS system, developers find the solution to their problems or try to learn new things, and users can share their thoughts and learning on the platform.The platform also provides inbuilt smart contracts functionality using which two users can create a contract where one user will teach or solve doubt of the other user and receive fees towards service rendered.
Jacques Bulchand‐Gidumal, Santiago Melián González
Online consumer-generated reviews are part of eWOM (electronic word of mouth). These reviews are very important for tourists in their decision-making processes regarding purchases and bookings. The reviews can be found in two types of sources: websites that sell the product and independent websites. In both cases, current review systems have relevant shortcomings: the possibility of fake reviews, the representativeness of those who review, platform decisions than can bias the results and other possible manipulations. Additionally, some users may not feel comfortable posting reviews due to the possible loss of anonymity. In this scenario, blockchain provides a suitable framework for solving most of the stated problems. In this paper, we describe an implementation of an online review system based on blockchain that would help solve most of the problems that exist in the current systems. We discuss managerial implications of the proposed system, possible limitations and future research needed in the area.
Blockchain technology is predicted to become a powerful driver of marketing transformation. At present, most envisioned use cases are in an early stage with an uncertain industrial impact and an immature theoretical integration in academic research. To help close this research gap, we investigate how blockchain-based loyalty programs transform B2C relations through innovative customer services that bear important properties of a sharing economy. Specifically, we identify-five potential advantages of blockchain-based programs over traditional loyalty programs pertaining to usage, accrual, relevance, expiration, and transferability. We then apply expectancy theory to assess consumers’ perceptions in two empirical studies, both of which reveal an overall preference for blockchain-based loyalty programs over traditional models: an analysis of 5,059 Twitter tweets detects more positive feedback for the blockchain-based program, and a survey of 206 consumers reveals a significantly more positive attitude toward the blockchain-based loyalty program with respect to accrual, relevance, expiration, and transferability.
Purpose This study investigated the internal factors that influence the adoption of cryptocurrencies for remittance transactions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by examining the relationships between behavioural intention (BI) and perceived risk (PR), as well as the mediating effect of consumer innovation (CI). Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a structural model using scales from the literature. The authors distributed an online questionnaire, evaluated by five cryptocurrency experts, using a snowball approach and collected 270 responses. Findings The results revealed that CI mediates the relationship between PR and BI. Also, CI enhances intentions to use cryptocurrencies for remittance transactions. However, PR has a negative impact on BI. Research limitations/implications This research adds to the body of knowledge by examining the acceptance and implementation of cryptocurrencies in the UAE and by developing and evaluating new constructs based on current notions. The study also contributes to the current understanding of cryptocurrencies and blockchain adoption. This article focusses on the mediating impact of CI on intentions to employ cryptocurrency instruments for international money transfers. Practical implications The conclusions of the research give advice for marketers on how to boost the commercialisation of cryptocurrencies in the UAE remittance market and may pave the way for other studies to assist impending developments in the UAE cryptocurrency industry. Originality/value This research offers novel insights into CI as a significant predictor of bitcoin product uptake in the remittance business.
Carla Ferraro, Melissa Wheeler, Jason Pallant, Samuel Wilson · 5 authors
Web3 technology is described as trustless in that interactions and transactions do not require trusted third parties and instead rely on smart contracts and the immutability of the decentralized blockchain. Thus, in contrast to earlier iterations of the web, Web3 users are asked to trust the technology itself rather than the human intermediaries. On its face , this shift to a trustless web calls into question the traditional conceptions of and requirements for trust. However, in this article, we caution against claims that advocate distrusting Web3 on the basis that, despite how quickly Web3 technology is advancing, the psychological processes through which people perceive and make sense of the social world remain fundamentally unchanged. Drawing on the psychology of trust and the evolution of web technologies and associated objects of trust, we argue that Web3 is not so trustless after all. We also highlight opportunities for brands to build trust in Web3 technology, including key considerations in leveraging opportunities and directions for further research. Overall, this article provides critical guidance to brand managers, policy advisors, and academics seeking to understand, build, and trust Web3 technology.
Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Tussyadiah, Albert Nsom Kimbu
Blockchain could disrupt traditional accommodation services by enabling safe, decentralised direct connections between guests and hosts. However, how users will accept and use blockchain-based services in tourism and hospitality remains unascertained. This study explores users’ perceptions of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system and sets a theoretical basis to conceptualise the drivers of the acceptability of such a system. By using a grounded theory approach involving theoretical sampling and three steps of coding and constant comparison procedures, this study revealed that users were drawn to the system because it delivers desirable characteristics that are absent from existing services, such as further reduction of transaction fees, instant transaction settlement, wider income distribution, data integrity, algorithm autonomy, and smart protocol. Personal and social contexts were also found to influence users’ preferences for blockchain type and system ownership models. By offering key predictors and a theoretical model of user acceptance of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system, hence taking a bottom-up approach to complement the highly top-down extant literature, this paper allows stakeholders exploring the use of blockchain technology in the tourism and hospitality sectors to have a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.
Vikram Puri, Subhra R. Mondal, Subhankar Das, Vasiliki Vrana
Blockchain and immersive technology are the pioneers in bringing digitalization to tourism, and researchers worldwide are exploring many facets of these techniques. This paper analyzes the various aspects of blockchain technology and its potential use in tourism. We explore high-frequency keywords, perform network analysis of relevant publications to analyze patterns, and introduce machine learning techniques to facilitate systematic reviews. We focused on 94 publications from Web Science that dealt with blockchain implementation in tourism from 2017 to 2022. We used Vosviewer for network analysis and artificial intelligence models with the help of machine learning tools to predict the relevance of the work. Many reviewed articles mainly deal with blockchain in tourism and related terms such as smart tourism and crypto tourism. This study is the first attempt to use text analysis to improve the topic modeling of blockchain in tourism. It comprehensively analyzes the technology’s potential use in the hospitality, accommodation, and booking industry. In this context, the paper provides significant value to researchers by giving an insight into the trends and keyword patterns. Tourism still has many unexplored areas; journal articles should also feature special studies on this topic.
Open access
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification