Rebuilding trust in the construction industry: a blockchain-based deployment framework

Abstract

Trust has been acknowledged as an essential element of inter-organizational relationships, and it also affects the efficiency of work operations. Although the construction industry has been pursuing trust for a long time, trust is still lacking and fragile among stakeholders. Blockchain seems to provide a promising approach through which trust can be rebuilt. This study aims to develop a deployment framework by following which construction stakeholders can develop blockchain-based solutions for rebuilding trust. A design science research (DSR) method is used to develop a blockchain-based framework. Then, the framework is prototyped and illustrated through a case study of construction supervision. It is discovered that the proposed framework can provide a promising approach to fostering trust. One contribution of this research is to articulate a normative vs. naturalistic trust-building spectrum and position blockchain-based trust-building in it. Practically, this research develops a framework that stakeholders can develop blockchain-based solutions.