The early bird catches the worm: The role of regulatory uncertainty in early adoption of blockchain’s cryptocurrency by fintech ventures

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual model of the competing hypotheses for the effect of regulatory uncertainty on technology adoption.

Table 1. Respondent sample profile.

Characteristic	Number	Percentage
Company age (years)
< 1	26	23.6%
1–2	33	30.0%
2–5	29	26.4%
> 5	24	21.8%
Revenue over last year (in USD)
No revenue (yet)	12	10.9%
1–50.000	30	27.3%
50.001–200.000	21	19.1%
200.001–500.000	14	12.7%
> 500.000	33	30.0%
Number of employees
0 Employees, I work alone	21	19.1%
1–10	43	39.1%
11–50	36	32.7%
> 51	10	9.1%
Adoption Stage
Not considering	29	26.4%
Have evaluated, do not plan to adopt	6	5.5%
Currently evaluating	37	33.6%
Have evaluated, plan to adopt	14	12.7%
Have adopted	24	21.8%

Table 2. Mean values, standard deviations, tolerances, VIF scores, and Pearson correlations.

	Mean	SD	Tolerance	VIF	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. Number of employees	2.380	1.117	.569	1.757	–
2. Revenues	3.200	1.406	.607	1.646	.569*	–
3. Relative advantage	3.952	0.988	.938	1.066	.094	−.036	–
4. Complexity	3.537	1.123	.949	1.053	.061	−.057	−.090	–
5. Compatibility	3.502	0.824	.975	1.026	−.013	.054	−.071	−.065	–
6. Top management support	3.815	1.175	.986	1.014	−.088	−.053	.002	−.015	−.047	–
7. Organizational readiness	3.597	1.197	.805	1.242	.383*	.349*	−.057	−.053	−.053	−.045	–
8. Trading partner pressure	2.571	1.238	.984	1.016	−.047	−.098	−.019	−.010	.007	.061	.008	–
9. Regulatory uncertainty	3.358	1.108	.918	1.089	.123	−.090	−.065	−.057	−.049	−.018	−.041	−.004	–
10. Adoption stage	3.019	1.447	–	–	.192*	.067	.178*	−.049	.049	.546*	.356*	.344*	.146

*indicates p < .05.

Table 3. Principal component analysis results.

	RA	CX	CM	TMS	OR	TPP	RU
Relative advantage 1	.865	.044	.142	.177	.046	.220	.096
Relative advantage 2	.801	.168	.171	.212	.054	.184	.017
Relative advantage 3	.820	.008	.106	.180	.024	.293	.196
Relative advantage 4	.775	.030	.135	.233	.210	−.040	.034
Relative advantage 5	.830	.077	.082	.298	.030	.223	.133
Complexity 1	.145	.915	−.136	.010	−.036	−.020	.087
Complexity 2	.056	.910	−.015	.126	−.038	−.050	.133
Compatibility 2	.231	−.135	.849	.021	.011	.081	−.005
Compatibility 3	.177	−.019	.847	.100	.135	.129	−.015
Top management support 1	.289	.024	.004	.824	.138	.227	.131
Top management support 2	.206	.123	−.003	.841	.150	.228	.049
Top management support 3	.249	.007	.142	.883	.135	.135	.140
Top management support 4	.267	.054	.056	.890	.105	.173	.078
Organizational readiness 1	.190	−.002	−.015	.164	.892	.169	.089
Organizational readiness 2	.037	−.094	.207	.252	.834	.211	.141
Trading partner pressure 1	.199	−.013	.126	.269	.103	.890	.061
Trading partner pressure 2	.250	−.018	.095	.267	.122	.860	.158
Trading partner pressure 3	.243	−.065	.071	.165	.222	.876	.051
Regulatory uncertainty 1	.083	.036	.009	.055	.062	.054	.877
Regulatory uncertainty 2	.149	.056	−.028	.144	.083	.051	.911
Regulatory uncertainty 3	.072	.156	.004	.093	.068	.112	.902
Cronbach’s α coefficient	.931	.853	.738	.951	.846	.957	.906

Note: Competitive pressure, technology complexity, and items 1 and 4 of compatibility were excluded. Values above 0.5 are shown in bold.

Table 4. Hierarchical principal component regression analysis predicting adoption stage.

	Model 1	Model 2
	B	B
Number of employees	.189^†	.116
Revenue	−.087	−.041
Relative advantage	.292***	.326***
Complexity	−.010	.019
Compatibility	.165*	.179*
Top management support	.852***	.855***
Organizational readiness	.538***	.562***
Trading partner pressure	.447***	.451***
Regulatory uncertainty		.262***
R^2	.604	.634
∆R^2		.030***
${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{a}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{j}}^2$	.572	.600
F	18.909***	18.871***

Note: N = 108. *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

Table A1. Overview of items for independent variables.

Variables	Measurement items
Relative advantage	RA1. Blockchain technology allows us to manage business operations in an efficient way. RA2. The use of blockchain technology improves the quality of operations. RA3. Using blockchain technology allows us to perform specific tasks more efficiently. RA4. The use of blockchain technology allows offers new opportunities. RA5. Using blockchain technology allows us to increase business productivity.
Complexity	CX1. My company believes that blockchain technology is complex to use. CX2. My company believes that blockchain technology development is a complex process.
Compatibility	CM2. Blockchain technology is compatible with existing information infrastructure. CM3. The changes introduced by blockchain technology are consistent with existing practices.
Top management support	TMS1. My top management is likely to invest funds in blockchain technology. TMS2. My top management is willing to take risks involved in the adoption of blockchain technology. TMS3. My top management is likely to be interested in adopting the blockchain applications in order to gain competitive advantage TMS4. My top management is likely to consider the adoption of the blockchain applications as strategically important.
Organizational readiness	OR1. My company has the financial resources to adopt blockchain technology. OR2. My company has the technological resources to adopt blockchain technology.
Trading partner pressure	TPP1. The major trading partners of my company encouraged implementation of blockchain technology. TPP2. The major trading partners of my company recommended implementation of blockchain technology. TPP3. The major trading partners of my company requested implementation of blockchain technology.
Regulatory uncertainty	RU1. My company is concerned about potential future tax regulations on blockchain activities. RU2. My company is concerned about potential future regulatory restrictions on blockchain activities. RU3. My company is concerned about potential future regulatory prohibition of blockchain activities.