Abstract
This paper presents a literature review on the role of the distributed ledger technology in promoting stakeholder trust for charitable organisations. The purpose of this review is to capture existing knowledge on the relationship between the following key variables: charity, trust and accountability, and distributed ledger technology – with emphasis on blockchain technology as a primary example of this technology. After shortlisting the discovered literature pool to 35 papers, the following three themes were identified. The first theme presents the various definitions of key concepts in crypto-philanthropy literature. The second theme captures existing views on why stakeholder trust is declining in charitable conduct. These views include: (1) organisational boundary shifts; (2) monitory complexity; and, (3) poor regulatory design. The third and final theme presents a hypothesis on how the distributed ledger technology can promote trust for charities. The technology is hypothesised to promote trust by drawing on the following three elements: (1) decentralisation; (2) provenance; and, (3) rule-enforcement. A number of shortcomings are then highlighted in the literature pool. The first shortcoming pertains to the inconsistent treatment of key concepts in crypto-philanthropy studies. The second shortcoming pertains to the lack of discussion on whether the distributed ledger technology may potentially decrease stakeholder trust if implemented irresponsibly by charities. In conclusion, a series of future research pathways are provided. These recommendations include: (1) clarifying key concepts; (2) suggesting “crypto-philanthropy” as a formal disciplinary title; (3) highlighting under-researched areas; and, (4) recommending strategies for building a new crypto-philanthropic theory. From an academic perspective, the findings contribute to literature by bridging the gap between crypto-economic, institutional governance and nonprofit accountability theories. The findings may also guide charity managers, regulators and policy-makers in understanding the capacities of the distributed ledger technology in legitimising charitable conduct.
Highlights
An emerging hypothesis in crypto-literature states that the distributed ledger technology may assist charitable organizations in promoting greater stakeholder trust in their donation allocation activities
The criteria stated that the non-academic publication must derive from a well-recognized source for legitimacy purposes, such as official charity auditors, government departments and widely cited industry leaders in the crypto-philanthropy community—for example, charity innovators, such as the Charities Aid Foundation and MercyCorps, who are some of the first multinational charities to explore the use of Distributed ledger technology (DLT) in philanthropy
Only two articles in the Group B list appeared in A/A∗ journals, while three appeared in B/C journals and six were ungraded. These results suggest that a majority of DLTbased information is contained in non-academic sources, thereby justifying a need for a more rigorous academic enquiry into this topic
Summary
An emerging hypothesis in crypto-literature states that the distributed ledger technology may assist charitable organizations in promoting greater stakeholder trust in their donation allocation activities. Before proceeding to discuss the following steps in the literature review process, it is perhaps worth explaining the sharp and sudden drop in article count—from 4,631 to 473 and, 23 academic papers Recall that these three concepts are each widely observed by numerous socio-economic disciplines, including law, accounting, political-economics, marketing, and finance. The criteria stated that the non-academic publication must derive from a well-recognized source for legitimacy purposes, such as official charity auditors, government departments and widely cited industry leaders in the crypto-philanthropy community—for example, charity innovators, such as the Charities Aid Foundation and MercyCorps, who are some of the first multinational charities to explore the use of DLTs in philanthropy This final step resulted in 12 additional documents, bringing the total to 35 publications.
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