Blockchain adoption drivers: The rationality of irrational choices

Abstract

There has been a huge increase in interest in blockchain technology. However, little is known about the drivers behind the adoption of this technology. In this article we identify and analyze these drivers, using six real-world and representative scenarios. We confirm in our analysis that blockchain is not an appropriate technology for some scenarios, from a purely technical point of view. The choice for blockchain technology in such scenarios may therefore seem as an irrational choice. However, our analysis reveals that there are nontechnical drivers at play that drive the adoption of blockchain, such as philosophical beliefs, network effects, and economic incentives. These nontechnical drivers may explain the rationality behind the choice for blockchain adoption.

Blockchain Adoption in Academia: Promises and Challenges

“…In this use, case blockchain brings different agencies (cyclists, the police, insurance companies) together, reducing administrative overhead and time expenditures (bicycle theft reporting is made easier). Yet, it was not the benefits of blockchain per se (a decentralized data base open to independent parties without opening up their data), but the initiative and vigour of IBM, a private company that invested money, time, and efforts to bring all stakeholders together (this case is reviewed in [21]). Accordingly, probably a successful use case for DLT in science might resemble this example: an obvious problem to be solved, and a highly motivated intermediary with enough resources to bring different parties together.…”

“…Apart from a set of technical solutions, blockchain for science projects in 2017-2019 have moved forward with a more ambitious goal of disrupting science as a whole [40] (pp. [19][20][21][22]. The impetus of these projects is mounting dissatisfaction with the oligopoly of large publishing houses, the "tyranny of metrics" [51] and indicators, the alarming growth of biased and non-reproducible research, and the "precariatization" of scientists.…”

“…Recently, a few papers have moved beyond that and made a conceptual revision of blockchain proponents' ambitions, with a critique of key concepts (e.g., trust [20]) and examination of novel use cases within a state-business-community nexus [21]. Still, a plurality of papers on blockchain and related technologies is structured aseither a proposal (what blockchain could do) or a critical literature review [16].…”

Disruptive Technologies in the Operation of Insurance Industry

“…Trust in a third party appears to be a much wider concept than the trust a blockchain can offer. This technology appears to provide trust in integrity of the data recorded on the blockchain, but the trust needed by a participant goes beyond integrity of data alone [24].…”

Blockchain-Based Diversion-Point System for Balancing Customer Flow in Shopping Mall

“…Token-based models usually take the transaction type of "token payment", elect bookkeepers to synchronize system states through competitive "mining", and reward their work with tokens for incentive. These models are more applicable to contexts running public blockchains where nodes are free to join and leave [39,40]. In our case, however, stores in a shopping mall are generally fixed and definite, and thus form a permissioned blockchain rather than the public one.…”