Blockchain adoption in the maritime industry: empirical evidence from the technological-organizational-environmental framework

Abstract

The maritime operations present several pain points, such as low transparency, poor paperless efficiency, and difficult trust management among supply chain participants. Blockchain is emerging as an innovative technology that solves pain points of maritime operations. Blockchain adoption in the maritime literature remains scarcely investigated, especially in identifying potential factors that may affect blockchain adoption intention. Based on the technological-organizational-environmental (TOE) framework, this study develops the research model to examine the determinants of blockchain adoption intention. Data collected from 161 firms in Taiwanese maritime industry were used to test the hypotheses in the research model. The findings revealed that knowledge absorption capability is the most important enablers of blockchain adoption in the organizational context, followed by perceived relative advantage in the technological context, and trading partner influence in the environmental context. Unexpectedly, perceived complexity does not appear to be decisive in predicting blockchain adoption intention. This study also discusses theoretical and managerial implications by providing valuable insights into the determinants of blockchain adoption intention.