Acceptance of Blockchain Technology in Supply Chains: A Model Proposal

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the factors that affect the adoption of blockchain technology by the companies in the industries such as raw material, transportation, healthcare, food, financial and to propose a comprehensive model explaining adoption behavior in the supply chain context. Supply chain, blockchain, information systems, and logistics literature have been extensively examined to create the associated model. Accordingly, the concept of inter-firm acceptance faced by researchers was accepted as a differentiating point and related constructs and the model were designed specifically for blockchain technology. A comprehensive literature review showed that there is a very limited number of studies on the acceptance of blockchain technologies by companies. The model created consists of 4 main determinants and 10 related attributes. In this context, inter-organizational factors such as power and trust of chain stakeholders and readiness for technology as organizational factor were analyzed within the integration of relative advantage, transparency, and cost as main characteristics of the technology. This model provides an important and unique perspective for practitioners and the academic studies to be carried out.