The impact of blockchain adoption on competitive performance: the mediating role of process and relational innovation

ABSTRACT

While Blockchain is heralded as an industry ‘game changer’, empirical studies have yet to demonstrate how it has positive performance impacts. Building on emerging blockchain research and the information technology adoption literature, this study develops a research model that links blockchain adoption in the supply chain to competitive performance through process innovation and relational innovation. The study uses data collected from 344 supply chain professionals working in companies with Blockchain experience and partial least squares modelling to test the proposed model. The results support the research model and confirm that competitive performance is directly improved through blockchain adoption and also indirectly through blockchain-enabled process and relational innovation. Our findings advance practice and theory by contributing to the emerging literature on blockchain and enriching our understanding of the performance impacts of blockchain adoption and use in the supply chain.

RÉSUMÉ

On présente souvent la blockchain avec le potentiel de transformer la gestion de la chaîne logistique, mais son impact réel sur la performance d’entreprise reste à démontrer. Nous proposons un modèle de recherche qui lie l’adoption de la blockchain dans la chaîne logistique à la performance concurrentielle par l’intermédiaire de l’innovation organisationnelle. Nous testons notre modèle à partir de données collectées auprès de 344 professionnels de la chaîne logistique et une modélisation par la méthode des équations structurelles. Les résultats confirment que l’innovation organisationnelle régit la relation entre l’adoption de la blockchain par une entreprise et sa performance concurrentielle. Nos résultats contribuent à la recherche émergente sur la blockchain et la chaîne logistique 4.0.

MOTS CLÉS:

• blockchain
• adoption
• chaîne logistique
• performance
• enquête

KEYWORDS:

• blockchain
• adoption
• supply chain
• performance
• survey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘Blockchain beyond the Hype: What Is the Strategic Business Value?’, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/blockchain-beyond-the-hype-what-is-the-strategic-business-value

2. Research Now, www.researchnow.com

3. Indian supply chain professionals were sampled for the study as they are early adopters of blockchain technologies: the Indian banking and insurance sectors have notably been testing the blockchain since 2016 (Karanjia, Lakshman, and Goswami 2017).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Samuel Fosso Wamba

Samuel Fosso Wamba is a full professor at Toulouse Business School. Prior to this, he was an associate professor at NEOMA Business School and a senior lecturer in the School of Information Systems & Technology, University of Wollongong, Australia. He earned his PhD in industrial engineering at the Polytechnic School of Montreal, Canada. His current research focuses on business value of IT, inter-organisational system adoption and use, supply chain management, electronic commerce, mobile commerce, electronic government, IT-enabled government transparency, social media, big data analytics and blockchain. He has published papers in a number of international conferences and journals including the Academy of Management Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Production Economics, Production Planning & Control, Information Systems Frontiers, Business Process Management Journal, International Journal of Production Research, Proceedings of the IEEE, Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science, Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, Americas Conference on Information Systems and International Conference on Information Systems. He is a CompTIA RFID+ Certified Professional, and Academic Co-Founder of RFID Academia.

Cameron Guthrie

Cameron Guthrie is an associate professor at Toulouse Business School. He earned his PhD in management science at the Université de Paris Panthéon–Sorbonne. His current research focuses on digital strategy, strategic thinking and complex problem solving. He has published papers in a variety of conferences and journals including the Business Process Management Journal, Industrial Relations, Journal of Management History, History of Economic Ideas, Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Americas Conference on Information Systems and Latin American and European Meeting on Organization Studies.