Determinant factors of intention to adopt blockchain technology across academic libraries

Abstract

Academic libraries experience a lot of pressure due to rapid changes in technology, budget cuts and increasing demand of information services from their clientele. At the same time, libraries are expected to improve their information services at the global level to meet the increasing demands of libraries’ population. Therefore, an effective collaboration in academic libraries is not an option anymore, but a necessity in order to cope with the rapidly changing technologies and external pressures. Blockchain technology because of its capabilities to record transactions and digital interactions in a transparent, secure, resilient, efficient and traceable way across untrusted parties, offers new opportunities for academic libraries’ collaboration. However, due to its infancy stage of development, literature on blockchain technology adoption behavior is lacking, especially in the context of academic libraries. This therefore opens up the opportunities for further research in this area. Based on the technology innovation theory and technology-organisation-environment framework, a conceptual research model has been developed to investigate the determinant factors of intention to adopt blockchain technology in South African academic libraries’ collaborative business processes. This conceptual paper also gives directions for future research in the form of 11 hypotheses.