Antecedents of blockchain adoption by South African listed companie
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
Blockchain technology is not a new concept, it was first introduced in 1991 by Stuart Haber and Scott Stornetta and made popular more than a decade ago by Satoshi Nakamoto (a name not yet verified if a real person or pseudonym) as a crypto trading platform. However, the technology has not enjoyed much success in the corporate environment. This study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the failure of South African corporates to embrace this technology by studying the “Antecedents of blockchain adoption by South African listed companies”. Although the technology has been around for decades, one argues that it is not a revolutionary or disruptive technology as it finds very limited adoption in the corporate space. Due to its high degree of scientific and technical novelty, it is considered radical technological innovation. Therefore, the sub-objective of the study was to investigate to what extent organisational context, individual context and innovation context influence a decision to adopt blockchain technology. This was a cross-sectional study that adopted a comprehensive theoretical framework; Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE), Technology-Acceptance-Model (TAM) and Diffusion-Of-Innovation (DOI) to unpack blockchain adoption and followed a quantitative approach. Organisational context which is part of TOE was measured by top management support and technology readiness, while individual context which is part of TAM was measured by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and lastly, innovation context which is part of DOI was measured by relative advantage. Due to the highly technical nature of the technology, the study focused on the general opinions of employees who work in South African listed companies, specifically decision-makers (managers, senior managers, executives) and subject matter experts (IT professionals).
The primary data was from a sample size of 71 which was collected using self-administered questionnaire adopted from scholarly papers. Many statistical analyses such as Pearson’s correlation, regression, ANOVA, and t-tests were conducted. The study noted that the null hypotheses predicting that organisational context and individual context will positively influence the adoption of blockchain technology were rejected. Moreover, III because the hypotheses were rejected and therefore the relation was of no significance. The extent of the influence of organisational and individual context and the interpretation of the variables in the equation could not be explained. However, the study failed to reject the null hypothesis which predicted that the innovation context will positively influence the adoption of blockchain technology. This finding can be attributed to the distinct features of the blockchain technology providing relative advantage such as data transparency, efficiency and security
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation
Keywords
Technology, Innovation, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Adoption, UCTD
Citation
Mbeki, Luyanda. (2022). Antecedents of blockchain adoption by South African listed companie [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38824