Abstract
Blockchain has become an irresistible disruptive technology with the potential to innovate businesses. Ignoring it may in itself result in a competitive disadvantage for organisations. Except for its original financial application of cryptocurrency, more applications are being proposed, the most common being supply chain management and e-voting systems. However, less focus is made on information and cybersecurity applications of blockchain, especially from the enterprise perspective. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by exploring blockchain as a use case for identity management in the context of an organisation. The paper gives a comprehensive background aiming at understanding the topic, including understanding whether claims made around it, especially blockchain’s potential to address identity management challenges, are based on facts or just a result of hype. Meta-synthesis was used as a research methodology to summarise the 69 papers selected qualitatively from reputed academic sources. The general trend shows theoretical evidence supporting some of the claims made but not necessarily friendly to the enterprise context. The study reveals a promising but immature state of blockchain, consequently questioning whether adopting blockchain-based distributed identity management in organisations is fully practical. A research model called TOE-BDIDM is proposed to guide further investigation.
Highlights
“Issues related to data integrity are most acute, as data tampering can have a huge impact on mission-critical services that depend upon reliable data” [1]
Is study opted for a realist meta-synthesis by combining positive and interpretive approaches to overcome their respective limitations, including all types of studies: quantitative, qualitative, empirical, conceptual, and review. is realist meta-synthesis shared some similarities with a systematic review, predefining most of the rules followed during the review process [11]. e main difference with a systematic review was that the review process was repeated several times to mature the review scope and satisfy the richness requirement of a qualitative study
MT3 discusses the practicality of blockchainbased distributed identity management (BDIDM) in organisations from different angles: concept, Identity Management (IDM) model, blockchain implementation, and ability to address IDM challenges
Summary
“Issues related to data integrity are most acute, as data tampering can have a huge impact on mission-critical services that depend upon reliable data” [1]. One of the fundamental steps in enforcing data integrity is safeguarding the digital system (such as a network, a website, a database, and an application) using the data through effective identification and authentication management. In this way, only authorised people can access the system and potentially use the data. E latter seeks to summarise and “distil information to draw conclusions” [9] while creating “refined meanings, exploratory theories and new concepts.” It is rooted in an interpretive approach and aims to “rigorously synthesize qualitative research findings” to produce generalisable knowledge [10]. Meta-analysis was not suitable because it is linear, typically analyses findings across quantitative studies “to identify statistically significant results” [9], and tends to prioritise objectivity over richness [10]. e predefined rules in this review were the review scope, data location (databases), search terms, selection criteria, exclusion criteria, and techniques and procedures of analysis and synthesis. e initial phase consisted of framing the review exercise, determining the scope of the review
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