Crowdfunding is an innovative way of financing projects that allows anyone to contribute money online and support various initiatives, such as businesses, causes, or solutions. However, traditional crowdfunding platforms face some challenges, such as lack of transparency and security, high fees, and limited control over the funds by the contributors and the project owners. Blockchain technology, which is a P2P, decentralized ledger, which is distributed can offer a more reliable, secure, and transparent solution for crowdfunding. Blockchain-based crowdfunding can leverage smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements that encode the rules and conditions of the funding process and ensure that the funds are released only when the predefined criteria are met. This paper aims to propose a concept for designing efficient smart contracts for crowdfunding, which can enable both the contributors and the project owners to have more control and influence over the funds and the project outcomes. Unlike the existing literature-based ideas, our proposed method not only allows the contributors to invest their own money, but also guarantees them that their token values will be preserved. This method can be integrated without disrupting the existing logic of the blockchain. The methodology provides higher control and transparency for all the parties involved in the crowdfunding process.
Purpose The study is an attempt to explore much talked but less understood issue of “blockchain in logistics industry” in modern perspective. The customers' acceptance of blockchain technology in logistics and supply chain is tested through “Technology Acceptance Model” by using attitude, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), behavioral intention and use behavior. Design/methodology/approach Data has been collected through online and offline medium, where active 240 responses have been collected finally using convenience sampling. Confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out for data analysis. Findings The customers' acceptance of blockchain technology in logistics and supply chain is tested through “Technology Acceptance Model.” The findings reveal model fit where PEOU, PU and attitude are the major constructs of the model to realize the substantial gains in logistics process efficiency. Research limitations/implications Convenience sampling has been considered for the study to collect the data of online users of various technology applications for tracking and shipment detail, whereas a more specified method sampling can be considered for the future research. The study has been conducted in the Indian context, which has been considered as the limitation pertaining to generalization across countries and industries. Practical implications The findings of this study will be helpful for market practitioners to build transparency between customers and industry to overcome the frictions in logistics. Blockchain will help in monitoring the performance history and previous commitments of logistics professionals resulting in selecting a responsible logistics solution provider. Access to critical data by the authorized member of the supply chain will reduce unsubstantiated disputes. Social implications Blockchain technology will be available to everyone on the network. This will bring transparency and help logistics professionals such as carriers, shippers and brokers to detect early frauds and prevent thefts. It will increase customer trust toward any financial transaction for tracking the ownership of titles. Originality/value Blockchain technology is envisioned to be a technology that could be a game-changer for decentralizing infrastructure, introducing transparency and building trust in the supply chain. The current study is a novel addition to the literature where blockchain technology enables the indisputable storage of verified data that was previously kept in safeguarded silos.
Construction Industry is currently evolving around the world. On the other hand, despite the technological advancement across most sectors, construction industry remains amongst laggards in digitalization. Currently, engineering business is facing technological disruption ahead of the fourth industrial revolution; one of which is the blockchain technology! Blockchain is new to construction industry, its challenges and opportunities are yet to be fully realized. This study explores the challenges and potential opportunities of blockchain in the construction industry through extensive review of literature within the blockchain domain vis-à-vis construction business domain. The study presents challenges under three categories (technical, regulation and social), and the potential opportunities in to improving efficiency and reducing conflict through transparency and trust. That will ultimately create value for money in the procurement of construction works. Recommendations are made based on the study finding to advance the research on blockchain applications in to the construction industry.
Block chain technology, hailed as the new internet is a revolutionary concept that can ensure transparent transactions through data authenticity and integrity with wide coverage area ranging from business to healthcare to real estate and designed to operate in the framework of an interlinked network or cluster of computing systems. Taking the example of the manufacturing sector, there are several transactions including sales, purchase and other expenditures that are to be accounted and there is a need for several ledgers maintained such as cash books, sales and purchase accounts which can be replaced by a single distributed ledger in public domain in chronological order. Also, in project activities there are capital costs that include infrastructure as well as technology costs, operational expenses and several direct and indirect expenses. Block chain technology can play a vital role in these transactions and can have wide scope in the area of logistics particularly in supply order processing including smart contracting, supply chain management, energy management, assets transfer, part processing, design, patent handling, electronic commerce, digital strategies and in ERP methodologies. While the idea of such a system is proposed to be the most preferred mode of transactions with data security and traceability and decentralization there are several challenges that need to be addressed before its implementation in totality. This paper intends to bring out the requirements analysis through expectations of the manufacturing sector by which it can possibly benefit from the integration of blockchain technology into the system.
Md. Selim Hossain, Sajjad Waheed, Ziaur Rahman, Sk. A. Shezan · 5 authors
Internet of Things (IoT) that has been developed owing toward the merging of various technologies such as instantaneous analytics, machine learning, artificial neural network, product sensors and implanted systems, etc. It also stages a significant part in multiple applications which are a smart city, smart home, agricultural, health monitoring, tourism, transportation, communication, business, education, etc. The security concern associating IoT has to be situated in the direction to attract the research community due to its immensely growing application in our daily life. Since it is light-weight nature, the security mechanism needs changes apart from comprehensive web security. PKI based certificate driven techniques, which in some instances seem not appropriate on the way toward encounter IoT challenges, e.g., as real-time effectiveness, costs, and performance from the security perspective. However, Blockchain has mind-blowing potentials to peer with the IoT aiming to build trust, transparency, and security. Its distinct properties, such as distributed behavior, immutability, and consensus mechanism, can stimulate and improve the rapidly growing IoT system through meaningful integration. We propose to address a practical smart home use case scenario using Ethereum Blockchain to improve IoT security. Public type and smart contract oriented Ethereum Blockchain are adaptable to enhance IoT security remains individual of the contributions that we claim throughout this research work.
Blockchain applications are considered as “trustless” machines, because they reduce business’s needs of trust in others. The “trustless” nature draws researchers’ attention on investigating the implications of blockchain in a business environment. From a view of business ethics, this paper aims at evaluating the impacts of blockchain applications on trust and business. After expounding the relations between trust in blockchain and trust in business partners, I evaluate the impacts based on a framework of competence trust, contractual trust, and goodwill trust. My conclusion is that full acceptance of trust in blockchain over trust in others is not good and will cause several risks that cannot be neglected. The main contribution of this paper is investigating and summarizing ethical and commercial risks of blockchain applications including disintermediation fallacy, centralization of trust, ambiguous contract, noncognitive trust in untrustworthy partners, and more actions guided by moral minimum.
The aim of the present study is to study blockchain technology adoption intentions by supply chain practitioners using the unified theory of adoption and use of technology (UTAUT2) with risk model as the conceptual framework. UTAUT2 is generic model which can be used to study adoption of technologies. The present study applies this model to study blockchain technology adoption in the supply chain. Data was collected from 360 supply chain practitioners in India. The results of the current study indicate that behavioural intentions for blockchain technology adoption are significantly influenced by performance expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation and price value considerations. The study proposes some guidelines for adopting blockchain in the supply chain. The present study tries to fill in the gap in the existing literature by listing out the factors that influence blockchain technology adoption in the supply chain.
Wan Nurhidayat Wan Muhamad, Noor Afiza, Muslihah Wook, Khairul Khalil · 7 authors
Intelligence data are among the critical elements used as a reference for risk-assessment and decision-making regarding national security. The intelligence data are shared among intelligence agencies in the intelligence community in improving the efficiency of their services. Centralised data with central authority is highly exposed to being an easy target of attackers. Leaked or unauthorised access of the intelligence data to a non-intelligence community will bring severe effect to a state. Blockchain as immutable and high-security technology is capable of providing cryptographic data in a decentralised environment and potentially can be applied for data sharing among the intelligence community. However, the acceptance and readiness of users on blockchain usage in the intelligence community are yet to be systematically studied. Considering the statement, this paper proposed an evaluation method to study the acceptance of blockchain technology by integrating a reliable acceptance model for blockchain technology implementation in the intelligence community. The acceptance model consisted of constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM 3) and Technology Readiness Index 2 (TRI 2) and was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). In this study, the result indicates that TAM 3 and TRI 2.0 integration model could contribute to determining the acceptance level in developing blockchain-based intelligence data sharing for the intelligence community.
Advanced technology provides greater opportunities for physical integration of transportation modes driven by containerization in respond to the evolving demands of consumer. The inception of Web 2.0, together with Industry 4.0, which introduced digitalisation including Blockchain technology has ushered in a substantial attention in shipping and port operation. The introduction of Blockchain technology - a distributed ledger server to store, verify, and authenticate parties' transactions - will increase the efficiency, consistency, and visibility of the entire supply chain system. It is expected that Blockchain will soon become a standard practice throughout the industry. Many scholars advocate that the next wave of technology will come from Blockchain as it represents the foundation of a new digital supply chain system. This will help improving the overall efficiency by defining traceability while enabling source tracking, optimizing order and freight tracking, and fostering trust between the organization and customers. Therefore, this paper through a comprehensive systematic literature review attempts to investigate the possibility of application of blockchain in shipping and port operation.
Mobashar Mubarik, Raja Zuraidah binti Raja Mohd Rasi, Muhammad Faraz Mubarak
The study aims to identify the role of the blockchain-based supply chain in supply chain integration. The study also aims to investigate the role of various factors that possibly mediate the relationship between blockchain-based supply chain management and supply chain integration. The study adopted a twofold mixed-method approach—sequential explanatory— to attain the objectives. In the first phase, data were collected from Malaysian electrical and electronic firms, and by applying PLS-SEM, hypothesized relationships were examined. In the second phase, through a qualitative study, the results of the first phase are discussed with the industry experts to seek their expert opinion. In doing so, the semi-structured interview from seven experts, selected through purposive sampling, were conducted. The findings of both inquiries reveal that blockchain technology has significant potential to enhance the integration between numerous actors in multi-level supply chains while ensuring the transparency and traceability in the transactions. Moreover, the findings reveal that certain pre-requisites are missing at the moment in the Malaysian manufacturing sector, which are inevitable to be met, before implementing the block-chain based supply chain. Sophisticated infrastructure which could suffice the blockchain-based technologies implementation in supply chains and the absorptive capacity is prominent amongst them. Consequently, it is recommended that appropriate training should be given to employees in order to cater to the requirement of the technical skills needed to handle such advanced technology. Further, continuous infrastructural investments should be made to implement blockchain-based technology in the business ecosystem of Malaysia at the government level.
The purpose of this research is to ascertain the most influential factor that affects the blockchain technology adoption intentions in Malaysian warehouse operations. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 acts as the underpinning theory and from a comprehensive literature review, five factors have identified to be incorporated in the conceptual framework development. Numerous studies covering the use of a wide range of technologies in the warehouse industry can be found in recent literature. However, it should be noted that, for studies relating to the intentions and application of blockchain technology in the Malaysian warehouse industry, this research would appear to be a pioneering work. Given the countless advantages of blockchain technology adoption, it is crucial that the Malaysian warehouse industry would seriously consider its application as standard business practices. This paper bridges the theoretical gap that will help to identify the opportunities for blockchain technology applications.
In cognitive wireless networks, multi-node cooperative spectrum sensing can effectively improve the accuracy of spectrum sensing, but there is a non-linear relationship between the number of nodes and sensing accuracy. Nodes with low reliability participate in cooperative sensing, which is not conducive to the improvement of sensing accuracy, and reduces the energy efficiency of spectrum sensing, which poses challenges to the normal operation of cognitive wireless networks. In order to improve energy efficiency and sensing performance, this paper proposes the node evaluation and scheduling (NES) algorithm and the Secure Spectrum Sensing based on Blockchain (SSSB) algorithm, which can evaluate the reliability of sensing nodes in real time, and obtain the trust value of the node. The nodes information is stored in the management center of blockchain. Blockchain encrypts nodes information to ensure that a node corresponds to its own trust value without confusion. Fusion Center of cognitive wireless networks select good performance nodes to participate in cooperative spectrum sensing. Which can reduce energy consumption while improving the sensing performance. The simulation experiment results show that the new algorithm in this paper is far superior to the traditional algorithm. Under the same other conditions, the detection probability is increased by 5%, and the energy consumption is reduced by 10%, and the safety index has also been greatly improved.
Supply chain involves a lot of transactions among the stakeholders. Blockchain technology will make a revolutionary change the way how transactions are being carried out. Blockchain removes all the disadvantages which are related to trust among stakeholders and gives better visibility and transparency. The present study explores factors that affect blockchain technology adoption in the supply chain. The current study is based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) with trust model. Data was collected from 363 supply chain practitioners from India. The results of the present study indicate that behavioural intentions are positively and significantly influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, price value, and trust. The study also lists out various aspects for future research regarding the implementation of blockchain in supply chain management.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to developing model for Organization Structure and Firm Performance
relationship mediated by impacting factors i.e., Organization Culture, Strategic Orientation, Environmental
Uncertainty and Technology usage in service sector in India.
Design/methodology/approach:The proposed test size for the research is 750 out of which 600 respondents are
found usable. The population universe is huge and spread across different region of India in the various public and
private service sector clusters. The sample nature is heterogeneous in the sense that the various managerial positions
of the respondents belong to different departments like Finance, Human Resource, Advertising, and Operation
management.
Finding:Thus, model so developed attempts to build a theory on understanding mediation effect of culture,
technology, environment and strategy prevailing in service sector i.e., banks, insurance and IT companies to know
how organization structure influence firm performance.
Originality/Value: It is found that impact of formalization, centralization and decentralization constructs of
organization structure with the four mediators have a stronger impact on firm performance. It also stated to emphasis
less on specialization of duties, responsibilities and authority towards employee in an organization for increasing the
performance.
Open access
Organizational Leadership and Management Strategies
The revolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming many concepts, making them “Smart”. It has revolutionized many areas of real life. Smart City is one of the key concepts of this revolution. Although cities are being digitally transformed, it still has obstacles along the way. In this paper, we have analyzed different publications for our Systematic Literature Review (SLR). This study highlights the areas where the blockchain is used and determines the benefits of using blockchain. The main contribution is to explore and identify the barriers and hurdles in Smart City Domain and how these hurdles are mitigated by the blockchain technology. This Systematic Study also addresses different challenges and issues such as security, immutability, interoperability, decentralization, privacy, and trust in the development of Smart Cities. An overview of the systematic research is also presented that would help identify the most and least studied concerns addressed in this study. This paper aims at analyzing how blockchain technology is used in different smart city business models, what are the features of blockchain that could consider it to be used beyond crypto currencies. We hope that this study can inspire interest in theory and exercise to stand-in discussions in this area adhere to these limits.
Georgios Kapnissis, Eleni-Ekaterini Leligou, Georgios K. Vaggelas
In the shipping industry, significant part of the documents exchange still have the traditional paper form, mainly due to security concerns, despite the size and modernization efforts of this market. We explore the adoption of the blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies to address document exchange in a fast and secure way.