Exploring Blockchain-Based Digital Transformation In Organizations

Digital transformation has emerged as an important research area in strategic IS research. Digital transformation has made profound impacts on many industries with digital technologies. Blockchain, first introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto for bitcoin use, is now being used across many industries. Blockchain could play a vital role in the digital transformation strategy for enterprises by providing security-rich data sharing, dynamic applications, and decentralized identity. Currently, the research on blockchain-based digital transformation is still in its infancy. The current literature provides limited knowledge and empirical evidence to explain how blockchain technologies empower digital transformation in organizations. This study first conducts a systematic literature review to study the current state-of-the-art digital transformation powered by blockchain and identifies a number of factors, including technical, organizational, environmental, and user factors, which may affect blockchain’s adoption and digital transformation effect in organizations. Next, this study proposes 12 hypotheses and a research model by integrating RBV (resource-based view), UTAUT (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology), and TOE (technology organization environment) framework to explore the blockchain-based digital transformation in organizations. A survey on blockchain-based digital transformation was developed to collect user data using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data and evaluate model fit. Quantitative analyses were used to test the proposed hypotheses. Case studies were conducted further to understand the benefits and challenges of blockchain-based digital transformation. This finding can help researchers better study the transformative potential of blockchain in enabling digital transformation and can help practitioners improve the strategies, approaches, and efficiency in implementing blockchain-based digital transformation in organizations