Dissolving Organizational Bounds - Does Blockchain Digitalize Trust?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the practicality in using blockchain to share information across organisational boundaries. Previous research has shown trust plays an essential role in information-sharing, but this is not evident in current blockchain literature, which this paper seeks to change. First, the importance of trust in information-sharing is presented by summarizing current literature´s take on the role of trust in information-sharing activities in the supply chain through which an analytical framework is presented. Following this methods used for acquiring the primary data from the wind industry, the secondary data from blockchain literature and the method used for analysing said data through thematic analysis are explained. The empirical case of the wind industry is then presented and analysed by presenting the identified themes of 1) product update handling and master data; 2) transparency and traceability; and 3) collaboration. The trust framework presented in the theoretical background is then used to analyse the contents of the themes and the wind case. This leads to the first set findings for the paper; for supply chain-based blockchain to be successful trust must be a pre-requisite for the involved parties, but in addition blockchain also facilitates trust through information-sharing, thus making trust and outcome of blockchain as well. Finally, the paper discusses how blockchain currently ties to operational interactions and not those related to tactical or strategic interactions.