1.

3 Research problem
This thesis intends to provide insight into what drives the adoption of blockchain technology by
organizations in the Netherlands from an entrepreneurial point of view.

The main research question (RQ) for this thesis is formulated as follows: “What are the perceived factors that
influence the adoption of blockchain technology by organizations in the Netherlands, and how do these factors influence
adoption?”

In order to answer the main research question, this thesis will need to answer several sub questions. First,
what are the internal factors within organizations that influence adoption of blockchain, and in what way
do these factors influence adoption? Conversely what are the external factors in an organizations’
environment that influence adoption of blockchain, and in what way do these factors influence adoption?
Finally, as blockchain is a technology, what factors inherent to the technology influence adoption of
blockchain, and in what way do these factors influence adoption?

The primary objective of this research is to combine the insights from previous academic studies on the
adoption of blockchain technology with the real-life insights from blockchain solution experts in order to
determine what factors influence adoption of blockchain technology by organizations in the Netherlands,
and in what way.

The reasoning to approach this question from an entrepreneurial point is view is because, as a technology
rather than an application, adoption of blockchain is done not by individual consumers but by
organizations. Organizations in turn generally make decisions based on a cost/benefit analysis, which
means that the decision to adopt a technology becomes in essence an entrepreneurial decision. Large scale
adoption therefore rests on entrepreneurs perceiving the benefits of adopting blockchain technology as outweighing its
costs.

The influence of a factor on adoption can either be positive or negative. A factor is understood to have a
positive influence if an increase (in quality and/or quantity) of that factor will normally lead to an increase
in adoption. Conversely, a factor is understood to have a negative influence if an increase of that factor
will normally lead to a decrease or stagnation in adoption.

1.4 Significance of research

This section will discuss both the academic and practical significance of this study.

1.4.1 Academic
This thesis will add to the body of existing literature on the adoption of blockchain by analysing which
factors drive adoption and how they affect adoption. The debate on blockchain adoption can be seen as a
part of the broader academic debate on technology adoption, although blockchain technology has a very
specific set of characteristics as will be described in section 1.5.

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There is comparatively little research on the adoption of blockchain. Such research as does exist mostly
focuses on specific industries and use-cases (e.g. Loebbecke, Lueneborg, & Niederle, 2018; Rugeviciute &
Mehrpouya, 2019), or on specific sets of adoption factors such as only organizational factors (e.g.
Clohessy, Acton, Godfrey, & Houston, 2018), and as such does not provide an overall view of blockchain
adoption. Moreover, the encountered studies that do aim to provide a broader view do so from a
literature review method that by necessity will not add new information (e.g. Sadhya & Sadhya, 2018).

No academic sources have been found that focus on adoption specifically in the Netherlands. Moreover,
because of the fast-moving nature of the subject matter, blockchain adoption research does not age
particularly well and rapidly becomes outdated.

In addition, the need for additional research into factors that influence blockchain technology adoption
has been suggested as future research in previous studies (Alexopoulos, Charalabidis, Androutsopoulou,
Loutsaris, & Lachana, 2019, p. 3382; Francisco & Swanson, 2018, p. 12).

Note that the scarcity of articles on blockchain adoption is limited to academic articles, as the myriad of
blogs, company websites, media and forums generate a sheer endless stream of data. An experiment
conducted on March 8th, 2020 at 13.00 CET showed that the number of search results for the search
phrase ‘blockchain adoption’ in Google was over 25 million webpages. In addition, the number of newly
added search results over the past hour was 88 – on a Sunday, during European lunchtime, with the US
still asleep. With this volume of articles already existing and being added to constantly, registering let
alone consuming all new data becomes humanly impossible.

1.4.2 Practical
The intended practical contribution of this study is twofold. First, to provide (individuals in)
organizations that see potential value in blockchain solutions with a better understanding of the benefits
blockchain can and cannot bring, but also of the challenges involved. They may gain insights into the
factors they can expect to encounter, and if they will help or hinder them. The findings of this study can
help them evaluate and prepare for both the internal factors they will have to face within their own
organizations and the external factors that they may encounter.

Second, for blockchain entrepreneurs who seek to stimulate their potential customers to adopt blockchain
technology, this study can give insight into what factors do and what factors do not drive adoption of
blockchain technology. This can enable those entrepreneurs to better advise their clients on their internal,
organizational aspects that affect successful blockchain implementation such as their innovativeness and
ability to collaborate. It can also assist blockchain entrepreneurs to more effectively try to (jointly)
influence the environmental aspects such as perception, regulation and standardization that impact
adoption.

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