Understanding the Blockchain Technology Adoption from Procurement Professionals’ Perspective - An Analysis of the Technology Acceptance Model Using Intuitionistic Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Abstract

Nowadays, the trend towards new technologies has promoted fierce competition in supply chains. Blockchain technology attracts widespread attention in supply chain processes via its potential benefits. Efficiently managed supply chain processes provide operational and organizational advantages, and procurement is one of the critical processes to gain such advantages. With its multi-participant nature, procurement process deserves particular attention in terms of its potential to be transformed by blockchain technology. When evaluating a new technology, variables affecting behavior to use technology should be analyzed carefully. In literature, additional research is needed to obtain a broader understanding of blockchain technology acceptance. This study aims to analyze procurement professionals’ adoption of the blockchain technology with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Intuitionistic Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (IFCM). The IFCM was used as it has the capacity to model the professionals’ hesitation, and it also copes with incomplete or even conflicting information. Our results indicate that the influences between variables are in line with most of the other studies. However, the findings further strengthens that the procurement professionals give Intention, Job Relevance and Output Quality more importance.