Blockchain as a disruptive technology for business: A systematic review

• Published in: International journal of information management Vol. 51; pp. 102029 - 14
• Main Authors: Frizzo-Barker, Julie, Chow-White, Peter A., Adams, Philippa R., Mentanko, Jennifer, Ha, Dung, Green, Sandy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2020; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Blockchain; Business; Cryptography; Diffusion of innovation; Digital currencies; Disruptive innovation; Disruptive technology; Stockholders; Systematic review; Technology adoption; Technology adoption; Diffusion of innovation; Systematic review; Disruptive technology; Blockchain
• ISSN: 0268-4012; 1873-4707
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.10.014

•Blockchain research remains early-stage, in theory, methods, and empirical work.•We identify 8 different concepts of blockchain from 90% of studies that defined it.•Topics relating to blockchain: banking & finance, law, accounting, healthcare.•Benefits include trust-free, decentralized transactions, lower costs, and privacy.•Challenges include regulation, interoperability, scalability, security, and volatility.
Blockchain is the latest ‘disruptive innovation’ that has caught scholars’ attention. It is the underlying technology for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Stakeholders like developers, entrepreneurs, and technology enthusiasts claim blockchain has the potential to reconfigure the contemporary economic, legal, political and cultural landscape. Skeptics claim the concept and its applications remain ambiguous and uncertain. Business scholars began publishing studies on the emergence and impact of blockchain, bitcoin, and related projects in 2014. In this study, we conduct a PRISMA guided systematic review of blockchain research in the business literature from 2014 to 2018. Our results show a rapid increase of studies over the five year period. The findings also convey key insights about the current state of scholarly investigation on blockchain, including its top benefits and challenges for business and society. We found that blockchain remains an early-stage domain of research in terms of theoretical grounding, methodological diversity, and empirically grounded work. We suggest research directions to improve our understanding of the state of blockchain and advance future research of this increasingly important and expansive area.