While interest in blockchain technology and applications increases, research studying the role of trust as an element that leads potential users and consumers to adopt and accept the technology remains scarce. This study conducts acceptance research that expands beyond traditional acceptance models and explores the role of trust from the user/consumer perspective. It provides comprehensive insights from the user/consumer angle and a deeper understanding of the role of trust in blockchain adoption. Using an inductive research approach that builds theory from qualitative empirical data, this paper identifies trust as a critical benefit of blockchain technology and applications, encompassing both functional (economic and system-/ process-related) as well as emotional benefits (social and personal). As trust spans across functional and emotional benefit dimensions, this study suggests that trust is a key driver for user/consumer adoption of blockchain technology and applications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.