JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

2021, VOL. 38, NO. 2, 282–287

https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2021.1912910

Special Section: Strategic Integration of Blockchain Technology

into Organizations
Rajiv Kohli and Ting-Peng Liang
Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA; Department of Information
Management, National Sun Yet-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Introduction
Blockchain is an emerging technology that enables two or more entities to conduct secure
transactions. After a blockchain transaction is executed, it cannot be altered because the
transaction information is encrypted. The transactions are safeguarded because they are
sealed in a block, linked with other blocks in a chain, and then shared with nodes across the
Internet. These properties of blockchain technology create strategic opportunities for
businesses, for example, by lowering transaction costs by eliminating the middlemen who
charge a fee to verify and guarantee the authenticity of transactions. Although there are
several promising use cases, we are yet to see widespread adoption and assimilation of
blockchain in business strategy.
A large number of papers associated with blockchain technology have been published in
recent years. They cover a broad range of applications, ranging from global supply chain to
cryptocurrency and intelligent manufacturing. Many organizations consider blockchain to
be a revolutionary technology that can create sustainable value and even alter business
models. In order to gain full advantage of this new technology, however, it is important that
managers view blockchain as strategic and integrate it into existing strategic infrastructure
and in the future strategic planning. They must perceive long-term value in adopting
blockchain and inducting it in organizational strategy planning. From an Information
Systems scholarship perspective, it is important for us to explore what changes in skills,
processes, and organizational structure are needed to realize the strategic value from
blockchain. The objective of this Special Section is to analyze and publicize the building
blocks and use of blockchain through exemplars that show its strategic integration into
organizations.

Research Framework
Strategic use of innovative technologies is an important information systems research issue
that has been broadly investigated. As blockchain is a complex technology, scholars must
rely on a framework to guide their studies. A common framework for evaluation and
aggregation of research findings will lead to a cumulative body of knowledge that scholars
can build upon and that practitioners can apply in deploying blockchain. To facilitate such
a cumulative body of knowledge, we propose six fundamental elements through which

CONTACT Rajiv Kohli Rajiv.Kohli@mason.wm.edu Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary, P.O. Box
8975, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 283

Application
Domains
• Supply chain
• Healthcare
• Open data Research Outcomes
infrastructure Themes
• Financial industry
• Initial coin offering • Organizational • Adoption intention
• Smart contracts integration • Financial
• Digital transformation performance
• Organizational • Resistance to
governance security coin offering
• Value creation • Network value
Key Constructs • Blockchain impacts • Design principles

• Trust
• Privacy
• Data governance
• Organizational Research Underlying Theories
capabilities
• Transaction costs Methods • Network effect model
• Technical factors • Game theory
• Case study
• Organizational • Motivation theory
• Survey
features • Ecosystem theory
• Economic modeling
• Affordance theory
• Design science
• Theory of Planned Behavior
• Secondary panel data
• Transaction Cost Economics
analysis
• Signaling theory

Figure 1. A research framework for blockchain research.

existing knowledge can be assimilated, and with which future studies can identify. These are
research themes, application domains, key constructs, outcomes, underlying theories, and
research methods. Our proposed framework shown in Figure 1 is extracted, in part, from the
corpus of 65 submissions received for this special issue. Below, we briefly describe each
fundamental element in our framework.

Research Themes
Identifying a research theme is an essential element that indicates where a research project
is building knowledge and the research stream to which it aims to make its contribution.
Research projects must demonstrate a clear theme and how that theme connects with
existing knowledge. Among the submissions to this special section, research themes covered
inter-organizational integration, digital transformation, inter-organizational governance,
value creation, blockchain impacts, data markets, and data sharing.

Application Domains
A new technology can be applied to many existing domains or to new domains. Given the
nature of security, transparency, and trust, ideas for blockchain domains are also quite
diverse. Among the submissions received, common application domains were supply chain
management, healthcare, open data infrastructure, social media, initial coin offering (ICO),
284 KOHLI ET AL.

smart contracts, public administration, financial industry, and used car markets. Whether
the adoption of blockchain technology can enhance performance or creates new services
depends on the nature of application domains. Financial applications that need greater
security and transparency tend to be more suitable for blockchain-like technologies. For
example, Sarkar et al. [3] (See Table 1) apply blockchain to global shipping to overcome
potential corruption in the trading process.

Outcomes
Outcomes are dependent variables used in a specific research setting for investigating their
relationships and underlying mechanisms. Some constructs are chosen from the adopted
theory while others may be selected from the nature of domain or technology. Among the
submissions to this special issue, key constructs were trust, privacy, affordance, data
governance, organizational capabilities, transaction costs, technical factors, organizational
features, task-technology fit, and others. Outcomes under study were adoption intention,
financial performance, resistance to security coin offering, network value, and design
principles, among others.

Underlying Theories
Although the submissions to this special section used a variety of research methods, many
did not specify an underlying theory. Among those that provided theoretical foundations,
theories included technology-organization-environment (TOE) model and information
systems success model and expected value perspective. Other theories in submitted papers
were network effect model, game theory, motivation theory, ecosystem theory, affordance
theory, theory of planned behavior (TPB), technology acceptance model (TAM), dynamic
capability theory, transaction cost economics (TCE), adaptive structuration theory, signal­
ing theory, and self-disclosure theory.

Table 1. Papers in this special section.

Authors
of Research Application Underlying Research
Articles Theme Domain Key constructs Outcomes theory method
Cho et al. Economic Value-added Adoption of blockchain by Profit and Game theory Economic
[1] impacts tax retailers and vendors, social modeling
reporting incentives welfare
Liang Organizational Public and Task-technology fit, Adoption Fit-viability Survey
et al. technology private Environment-technology fit, intention
[2] adoption businesses symbolic benefits, function
benefits, viability, adoption
intention
Sarker Anti- Global Social actors, schemas and Corruption Socio- Case study
et al. corruption shipping routines, resources, framing, mitigation technical
[3] practices, addressed system
corruption
Zhang Design of Long-term Transaction costs, information Insurance Transaction Design
et al. a Blockchain care privacy, trust Model cost Science
[4] system insurance economics
 JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 285

Research Methods
Research methods applied in a study document the process of how scholars convert data
collected into their findings. Common research methods such as survey, design science, and
case study are deployed by scholars to extract data for analysis. The proportion of papers
using economic modeling was higher in blockchain research than for research associated
with other technologies, perhaps because there are fewer applications of blockchain.
Authors also used statistical analysis with secondary panel data to analyze real world
phenomena such as ICO or cryptocurrency price prediction.
With our framework comprising the six elements, researchers can position their research
for better understanding and comparison so that we can build a cumulative body of
knowledge.

Papers in this Special Section

All submissions went through a rigorous two- or three-rounds of reviews and revisions. We
thank the reviewers for their thoughtful and constructive comments to authors. We also
thank Professor Stephan Kudyba for serving as an ad hoc associate editor to manage the
review process for the Liang et al. [2] paper. Four full papers were eventually accepted for
publication in this special section. They cover a variety of research themes, application
domains, key constructs, major outcomes, underlying theory, and research methodology. In
Table 1 we summarize how these accepted papers fit into the aforementioned research
framework.
Cho et al. [1] investigate economic impacts of blockchain implementation in value-
added tax (VAT) reporting. They build a game-theoretic model that involves a retailer and
two vendors to analyze the strategic decisions regarding blockchain adoption and to
examine the effects on social welfare. They demonstrate that the decision to adopt block­
chain depends on financial considerations such as adoption costs, the retailer’s profit
margins, as well as actions such as the vendors’ VAT reporting behavior and inter-vendor
competition. They found that policymakers can provide subsidies to encourage blockchain
adoption and expand social welfare.
Liang et al. [2] report findings from a survey of managers in the public and private
sectors. They build a research model based on the fit-viability model and extend the model
with value-based perspective to include both symbolic and functional benefits. The model is
evaluated with data collected from industrial organizations in Taiwan. Their results indicate
that functional and symbolic benefits have positive impact on managers’ assessment of task-
technology fit. Their findings highlight managers’ view that viability is an important
criterion in adopting blockchain technology.
Sarker et al. [3] report a case study on applying blockchain technology to combat
corruption in global shipping. This topic is important because blockchain is expected to
increase transparency and data security. They find that adoption of blockchain mitigates
corruption related to the shipping process, as well as its documentation. Based on the
findings, they develop a sociotechnical understanding of how to combat corruption through
the use of social and digital/informational resources, including blockchain technology.
Through the interplay among identity, institutional actors, technical and other resources,
and practices, they articulate conditions to combat corruption.
286 KOHLI ET AL.

Zhang et al. [4] deploy theory-based design science for evaluating long-term care
insurance (LTCI). They focus on reshaping the insurance industry through the use of
blockchain technology. Specifically, they design a model, InsurModel, to handle business
interdependence in blockchain and utilization of the zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) protocol
to reduce the ex-post transaction cost for a LTCI initiative to deal with two technical
challenges that are of strategic importance: inefficiency in data auditing and verification
of encrypted data. The theory underlying the design is transaction cost economics, one that
goes beyond the traditional cost-benefit analysis. Their empirical evaluation indicates that
the model is efficient, scalable, and is applicable in China.

Agenda for Future Research

The four papers in this special section address several perspectives in the strategic role of
blockchain technology in organizations. They highlight that much remains to be explored.
As blockchain will continue to evolve, it is expected to become mainstream technology for
secured transactions, just like secure e-mail did in the past. For it to be a viable technology,
we expect that scholars and practitioners will continue to seek ways to build applications
that go beyond efficiency and cost control of transactions. Managers must seek benefits
beyond symbolic and functional impacts that shape the organization’s strategy, for example,
by offering new products and services. Can the risk mitigation characteristics of blockchain
lead to design of new products such as insurance for authenticity of artwork or ownership
title for land and real estate? Strategic applications for risk mitigation may lead to new
business models that specialize in executing transactions at low costs, thus improving
profitability of trading parties. For example, up to ten percent of the US healthcare costs
are from administrative costs such as insurance claims processing. Similarly, lack of reliable
records of a patient’s medical history result in duplicate diagnostic tests resulting in higher
costs. Blockchain technologies can address the aforementioned challenges and securely
deliver the medical history to authorized personnel. Other applications of blockchain are in
providing a secure, verifiable maintenance history of automobiles such that blockchain can
help overcome trust barriers among used cars buyers.
A second research direction is to examine how to overcome the barriers in adoption,
such as the high energy consumption to process blockchain transactions, latency in
processing transactions that takes hours to complete, or how secure blockchains encourage
bad actors to conduct transactions for illegal activity. As blockchain makes the transaction
ledger open to public, could competitors learn from the dyads of transactions between
suppliers and its competitors?
Another direction for future research is to explore how blockchain can be combined with
other advanced technologies to create new business models and innovative applications. For
instance, blockchain may be combined with artificial intelligence to create smart contract
applications that allow multi-party transactions to be executed and recorded automatically.
This special section provides four exemplars on strategic applications of blockchain
technology and covers some of many possible research areas. Nonetheless, the framework
proposed in this introduction can serve as a blueprint for aggregating existing knowledge
and planning for future research directions. Different combinations of the six elements
could yield new research directions for further studies.
 JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 287

References
1. Cho, S.; Lee, K.; Cheong, A.; No, W.G.; and Vasarhelyi, M.A. Chain of values: Examining the
economic impacts of blockchain on the value-added tax system. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 38, 2(2021), in this issue.
2. Liang, T.P.; Kohli, R.; Huang, H.C.; and Li, Z.L. What drives the adoption of the blockchain
technology? The fit-viability perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 38, 2
(2021), in this issue.
3. Sarker, S.; Henningsson, S.; Jensen, T.; and Hedman, J. Blockchain as a strategy for combating
corruption in global shipping: An interpretive case study. Journal of Management Information
Systems, 38, 2(2021), in this issue.
4. Zhang, W.; Wei, C.P.; Jiang, Q.; Peng, C.H.; and Zhao, J.L. Beyond the block: A novel
blockchain-based technical model for long-term care insurance. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 38, 2 (2021), in this issue.

About the Authors

Rajiv Kohli (Rajiv.Kohli@mason.wm.edu) is John N. Dalton Memorial Professor of Business at the
Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary. Prior to joining academia, he was a Project
Leader in Decision Support Services at Trinity Health. Dr. Kohli’s research has been published in
Management Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems,
MIS Quarterly, MIS Quarterly Executive and Journal of Operations Management, among other
journals. He is a coauthor of the book The IT Payoff: Measuring Business Value of Information
Technology Investment, published by Financial Times Prentice-Hall. He serves as a Senior Editor for
Information Systems Research.
Ting-Peng Liang (is.tpliang@gmail.com) is Director of the Electronic Commerce Research Center of
National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan, ROC. He received a Ph.D. degree from the Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a Fellow, Leo Award Recipient, and Past President of
the Association for Information Systems. Dr. Liang’s research interests include electronic commerce,
data analytics, information systems strategy, and neural information systems. His papers have
appeared in top journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems,
Journal of the AIS, Management Science, Operations Research, Decision Support Systems,
Information & Management, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, among others.
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