Abstract
Coffee is the second most important commodity in terms of global trade value, with its global market value exceeding $460 billion in 2020. Its supply networks, which encompass multiple stakeholders, are complex and nontransparent. Blockchain is a trust technology, and some coffee firms have embraced this technology to provide trust attributes to consumers while making their supply chain more transparent. For businesses to gain the expected productivity advantages, a technology must be adopted and used. As theoretical and empirical research on blockchain technology adoption is scarce, this article attempts to identify behavioral intentions of stakeholders in the supply network toward its adoption. Based on exploratory interviews, this article develops a blockchain technology adoption model based on factors relevant to individuals’ use behavior. The results provide evidence that a normative stakeholder management approach positively impacts use behavior. Managers can use the model to benchmark and improve their corporate social responsibility strategy to obtain better returns on blockchain investments. This study closes a research gap as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no research has been conducted so far on the impact of an instrumental stakeholder management approach on blockchain technology adoption behavior. Understanding how stakeholder management can compensate for the lack of consensus mechanisms in private and consortium blockchains, as well as understanding the factors influencing behavioral intentions toward the use of a technology, can provide for managerial guidance toward the development of an effective stakeholder management strategy, which eventually can result in a competitive advantage.
Highlights
From harvest to the consumer’s cup, coffee travels through vertically cooperated food supply chains (FSC), which are typically managed centrally with a focal firm being responsible for the coordination of the network (Hanf and Dautzenberg 2006)
As UTAUT is increasingly combined with other theories, we proposed a model consisting of UTAUT and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) elements, as laid out in Figure 2, to predict individual behavior toward blockchain technology adoption
Based on the blockchain technology adoption model, we developed an online questionnaire comprising of elements from UTAUT and TPB targeted at Solino employees in Ethiopia who were tasked with recording BCT transaction data, to investi‐
Summary
From harvest to the consumer’s cup, coffee travels through vertically cooperated food supply chains (FSC), which are typically managed centrally with a focal firm being responsible for the coordination of the network (Hanf and Dautzenberg 2006). Spurred by food safety crises, consumers nowadays require provenance information and transparency about origin, production, and journey of the food item they consume (Saitone and Sexton 2017). Decentralized solutions, such as blockchain technology (BCT), could provide for supply chain transparency, immutable transaction data that is constantly visible to all stakeholders, as well as for secure and transparent recording of transport and storage conditions (Blossey et al 2019), which results in increased consumer trust (Baralla et al 2020). The coffee industry, as part of the agri-food industry, has just recently started to implement blockchain solutions in their supply chain with the objective of establishing trust by sharing product-related information with consumers and by making supply chain activities more transparent to them and to relevant stakeholders (Miatton and Amado 4.0/). Traceability has become a fundamental competitive differentiator in the agri-food industry (Costa et al 2013)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
