ABSTRACT
Blockchain technology is emerging and it is seen as the new way to support the needs of individuals and organizations. The blockchain is a distributed public ledger that records information about transactions onto a block which is accessed by all nodes on the network, and the block cannot be altered by any node. It ensures trust and transparency. Literature in the field of Blockchain is very scarce in developing economies in relation to its firm-level adoption and implementation regardless of their readiness to benefit from the technology. Arguably, there is a lack of a theory-based understanding in the studies of Blockchain adoption. Therefore, this study aims to explore the factors that influence the readiness of a firm to adopt and implement the Blockchain technology.
This study employed a critical realism paradigm to understand an uncertain phenomenon of how the readiness factors affect the adoption and implementation of Blockchain technology in firms and adapted the Perceived E-Readiness Model (PERM) as a theoretical lens for this study, analyzing the factors that influence the readiness to adopt and implement Blockchain in firms. A Delphi technique was used as a data collection method in this study whereby, experts from industry and academia knowledgeable about Blockchain was interviewed.
The study also suggests that cryptocurrencies and record management blockchain platforms are being used and though firms are using the technology to solve the needs of the land market and agriculture, there are more ways to improve these industries with the use of Blockchain technology. The findings suggest that the understanding of the use of the Blockchain technology
by firms in Ghana and individuals is good hence, the integration by the local companies such as BenBen and AgriXchain into their business operations. Awareness of the technology is encouraging due to the fact that most individuals know what Blockchain is, how to use it and what to use it for. Also, this study reveals that the Ghanaian government is ready to embrace the technology to ensure transparency and efficiency in the government services provision system and, go a long way to modernize and digitize governmental agencies. Furthermore, the findings suggest that there are firms and practitioners who teach these courses (Ethereum, Python, JavaScript, etc) and assist individuals to gain the necessary skills to develop the technology, however, some individuals resort to online platforms to acquire these skills.
Understanding of the technology, Knowledge on how to use it, Availability of skilled personnel, Availability of technical components, Risk, Capital, Management support, Business process, Policies & Regulations, and Government initiatives on technology were identified from the analysis of the findings to be key influencing factors to the adoption of Blockchain in developing economies. First, it presupposes the non-technical readiness factors tend to be more dominant than technical readiness factors. Readiness lies in addressing these dominant factors primarily in relation to the technical factors. Second, there is an interaction between organizational readiness factors (Awareness, Resources, Commitment & Governance) and environmental readiness factors (Governmental Readiness, Market Readiness, Technological Readiness & Educational Readiness). The presence of these factors enables the adoption and implementation of the Blockchain technology and the absence of these factors constrains it.
This study responds to the gap of the scarcity of research work done in the field of Blockchain in developing economies. For practitioners, this study serves as a guideline for firms that are looking forward to adopting and implementing Blockchain technology. Finally, for policy, the findings provide a recommendation of how regulators can introduce a tax party in a Blockchain business network to track proper tax filing by the business parties in the Blockchain network.
The originality of this study lies in the fact that this research is, perhaps, the maiden exploratory study that examines the factors that influence the readiness to Blockchain adoption and implementation in Ghana, a developing economy.
It is recommended that further researchers can adopt the quantitative approach in order to have a greater sample size of firms as well as individuals, or both to make a generalization concerning this phenomenon. Further research can adopt a single case or a multiple case study to the implementation process of Blockchain.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
Research Background
Advances in innovation are permitting significantly more prominent specialization, which comes about in a more noteworthy total of better quality and wellbeing as well as higher profitability. The procedures of arranging and configuration are today altogether digitalized with data being shared and traded in digital forms. It is very crucial that building data management is the managing of huge data, that can be utilized as a part of disputes and prosecution among various supporters of the procedure (Turk & Klinc, 2017).
Three technological platform generation exist (Underwood, 2016). In the first, are mainframes, second is the personal computers, networks like a local area network and the internet and the third is delivery of computing almost immediately anywhere and facilitates the deployment and consumption of resources. Blockchain technology falls under the third category (Underwood, 2016). The essence of Blockchain lies in its capacity to help reliable exchanges by means of arranged calculation instead of human control (Zhao, Fan, & Yan, 2016). Therefore, referred to by Nath (2016) as an “operating system for interactions”. The key driving element of the Blockchain innovation is its capacity to track exchanges inside decentralized, open databases and along these lines, preventing duplicating and misrepresentation (Kostakis, 2014). The Blockchain is a dispensed transaction database in which exclusive computer systems – known as nodes – cooperate as a machine to save sequences of bits which might be encrypted as a single unit or block after which, chained together. The initial and now infamous utility of the Blockchain technology is
Bitcoin, which is a cryptocurrency (Lemieux, 2016). The technology powering Bitcoin (Blockchain) was taken advantage of by some individuals to facilitate criminal activities in the past, however, it has proven to be a solution by using a trustworthy ledger to enhance recordkeeping capabilities, in ensuring transparency. Public registration systems, land registrations and other types of systems will be more transparent with the use of smart contracts, which employ different rules for specific types of contracts such as buying a property or treasury bills (Cohen, 2015: Johnston, 2014). Some organizations, which include IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and NEC, are presently making an effort in taking advantage of the Blockchain in order to improve their range of products (Karame, 2016). Moreover, the Blockchain era dynamically shapes our thoughts of social truth and transparency. These are achieved with the aid of enforcing the order of dimension inside the company limiting social dealings with middlemen drastically (Reijers, 2016).
Studies by Lemieux (2016), Dunranti and Rogers (2012), Turk and Klinc (2017) and Nakamoto (2008) indicate the successful use and implementation of the Blockchain in developed economies however, there is arguably no empirical study to examine and to find out the readiness of firms in developing economies such as Ghana to adopt and implement such a technology (Blockchain) and also, there lacks a theory based understanding of how the internal and external factors influence the readiness of firms and individuals to adopt and implement Blockchain in developing economies. Hence the need for this study.
Research Problem
Blockchain Technology is currently seen as one of the most important trends to watch as reported by Harvard Business Review (Webb, 2015) and one of the 10 strategy trends in technology for 2017 by Gartner (Cearley, Walker, & Burke, 2016). Blockchain may work as an option to the types of recordkeeping issues faced by developing economies such as Ghana. Nowadays, digital technology is permitting even more specialization which ends on one hand on the greater sum of knowledge deployed, and higher productivity (Turk et al., 2017). Now many of the international organizations are running in a decentralized manner and this trend is giving considerable power to the threshold of networks. However, this trend has compelled some super brains to think past how information systems and applications can communicate in a decentralized manner (Lipton, 2017). Also, if advanced data are uncertain or need trustworthiness, organizational targets might be ruined. For example, devious common enrollment sections of a registration process may propose that individuals are not able to prove to be who they are as a fundamental precondition of accessing social privileges, or that open doors for the recognizable fraud that rise with identity issues (Lemieux, 2016). This is a trust and transparency issue that arises in organizations which the Blockchain technology can solve. The transparent and decentralized nature of the Blockchain network allows the development of a non-refutable, and unbreakable report of records, which is the fundamental characteristic that most organizations are going to explore and practice. Many studies (Turk et al., 2017: Nakamoto, 2008: Lipton, 2017: Lemieux, 2016) have looked at the benefits derived from implementing Blockchain into a firm’s operations.
Previous studies on Blockchain technology identified a number of research gaps:
- There has been a tremendous increase in interest in Blockchain technology from 2013 (Yli- Huumo, Ko, Choi, Park & Smolander, 2016). Studies published on Blockchain grew from “2 in 2013 to 41 in 2015” (Ko et al., 2016) and a greater number of the studies were much concentrated on looking at the challenges as well as the limitations, however, proper solutions have not been able to address most of the issues (Yli-Huumo et al., 2016).
- Yli-Huumo et al. (2016) argued that a lot of Blockchain applications and services are more dominant in the financial sectors and that the Blockchain technology can be applied to other areas such as voting, property licensing, lease agreements, etc.
- Reijers, O’Brolcháin & Haynes (2016) in their study proposed the need for more literature due to the fact that Blockchain is still in its infancy and developing, therefore, making their discussions lack empirical support.
However, while there is a significant amount of evidence that Blockchain actually enhances transparency and value, arguably, there exists no Blockchain studies on its adoption and implementation from a developing economy’s perspective. As indicated by Gupta (2017), there has been significant interest in Blockchain and Organizations are conducting research in harnessing its full potential. Some research has been done pertaining to crucial issues about Blockchain technology. This study review’s literature about Blockchain that helps to provide a holistic understanding of the concepts of Blockchain and to touch on various approaches and prevailing themes in the field. Evidence gathered from previous Blockchain studies (Yli-Huumo et al., 2016: Reijers et al., 2016: Gupta, 2017: Lindman et al., 2017) shows that not much
theoretical frameworks have been used which this study seeks to address by adapting the
Percerived E-Readiness model to identify the internal and external factors that affect the readiness of firms and individuals to adopt the technology . However, there is arguably little literature about Blockchain in developing economies, therefore there is a need for more research by contributing to Blockchain literature through a theoretically based approach. This research employs the PERM to explore the readiness of government firms and other private firms in adopting Blockchain.
The proposed research is exploratory since Blockchain for businesses is still in the conceptualization phase in Ghana. Many firms in the country do not know what this great innovation is (Njuguna, 2014). Nonetheless, firms’ setting of Ghana as a developing nation verdantly affects Blockchain acceptance and implementation at the firm-level.
Research Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the readiness to adopt and implement Blockchain in firms and to also develop a theory-based understanding of Blockchain readiness in developing economies.
Research Objectives
The following outlined objectives are achieved:
- To explore the nature of Blockchain technology in Ghanaian firms.
- To explore the factors that influence the readiness of Ghanaian firms to adopt Blockchain.
Research Questions
- What is the nature of Blockchain technology adoption in Ghanaian firms?
- What type of Blockchain platform are they adopting?
- What are they using it for and why?
- What factors influence the readiness of Ghanaian firms to adopt Blockchain?
Significance of Research/Chapter synopsis
The significance of this study can be described in terms of research, policy, and practice. It will be critical to examine as it contributes to the current learning bank of Blockchain literature. It will likewise try to connect the research gap considering the inadequacy of scholarly work directed on bitcoin use from a developing economy’s perspective, for example, Ghana and other developing economies. This research will likewise fill in as a source of reference for students and researchers who might need to additionally investigate Blockchain utilization.
This study will enlighten Ghanaians on the awareness of some of the merits that come with Blockchain usage. Again, this research will open up the opportunities and/or challenges confronting Blockchain adoption as well as offering guidelines of how their contemporaries are taking advantages of the opportunities while addressing the challenges.
Policy makers will also depend on the findings of this study to make informed decisions regarding Blockchain adoption in Ghana.
