Transformation Design for a Decentralized, Value-Sharing Economy

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is the design of a model for blockchain technology adoption in the context of business transformation. This model should serve two aims: 1) to support companies with risk management across the entire process of blockchain-driven business transformation at the individual, company level, and 2) to estimate the measure of default risk at the industry level, which might arise without an adoption model that could support the sustainable use of blockchain technology. The main conclusion drawn from the research for this thesis is that the customized adoption model, which has been designed by integrating the two existing adoption models TAM and CMM, holds the potential to support risk management for the sustainable use of blockchain technology. The integrated TAM and CMM adoption model provides a resilient framework for managing the transformation design at the company level, and also to estimate risks at the industry level. In keeping with the insight that blockchain technology is a foundational technology, which is characterized by the dimensions of novelty and complexity, a comprehensive framework is required for the management of both dimensions. This newly designed, customized adoption model can manage these simultaneously. TAM provides the solution for the novelty dimension, while CMM provides the solution for the complexity dimension. The combination of both seems to be a valuable solution to increase and optimize blockchain technology adoption across any industry, use case and maturity level. The extension of both models to include further levels and parameters (e.g. level of knowledge, perceived risk, awareness, knowledge), as presented in Chapter 3, provides additional value for the business transformation design process and for the adoption of blockchain technology in a sustainable way.