Blockchain diffusion: the role of consulting firms

Abstract

Blockchain is one of the most promising technologies with a highly disruptive potential, yet many aspects of this innovation remain unclear in the current body of research. One of them is the whole adoption and diffusion process of blockchain technology, which needs more attention from researchers. This study has adopted a qualitative method to investigate the role of consultants in blockchain diffusion, relying on data from 14 semi-structured interviews conducted with blockchain consultants. The various roles of these key players were identified and challenges related to the technology analyzed by means of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and the Technology – Organization – Environment (TOE) framework. According to the results obtained, consultants’ roles range from technology brokers to quality filters. The same results also revealed that the most important barriers to blockchain adoption and diffusion include the lack of knowledge and understanding of the technology, which contributes to promoting unconscious or forced adoption. This paper sheds light on how consulting firms and blockchain-oriented start-ups operate to impact the diffusion of blockchain while dismantling barriers to adoption.

Keywords:

• Consulting firms
• diffusion
• Blockchain
• TOE framework
• diffusion of innovation theory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the managing editor of the special issue, Prof Bai, Prof Sarkis, Prof Xue, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions that significantly improved our final manuscript. We would also like to thank SmartB for their contributions to realizing this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marroi Laaraj

Marroi Laaraj is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Montpellier and a project manager at SmartB. She is a member of the 'Social Entrepreneurship & Inclusion’ Chair. Her research focuses on the use of blockchains in the context of the digital and ecological transition. Ms. Laaraj holds a master’s degree in business strategy and digital environment consulting from Montpellier Business School.

Walid A. Nakara

Walid A. Nakara is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department ‘Management – Strategy – Entrepreneurship’ at Montpellier Business School. His research interests include innovation strategy, entrepreneurial personality, and new forms of management. His work has been published in journals such as World Development, Journal of Business Research, Production Planning Control, Small Business Economics, European Management Review, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, etc. He is Chairholder of the ‘Social Entrepreneurship & Inclusion’ chair and Deputy Director of the Yunus-MBS Centre for Social Business.

Samuel Fosso Wamba

Dr. Samuel Fosso Wamba is Associate Dean for Research at TBS Education, France. He earned his Ph.D. in industrial engineering at the Polytechnic School of Montreal, Canada. His current research focuses on the business value of IT, blockchain, AI for business, and big data. He is among the 2% of the most influential scholars globally based on the Mendeley database that includes 100,000 top scientists for 2020 and 2021. He ranks in Clarivate Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers List, which consists of the top 1% of the ‘world’s most impactful scientific researchers’, for 2020 and 2021, and in CDO Magazine’s Leading Academic Data Leaders 2021.