A Decision Framework for Blockchain Adoption

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple decision framework to help managers determine when blockchain technology is suitable and beneficial, avoiding common pitfalls in adoption decisions.

Contribution

It provides a practical, question-based framework for non-technical decision-makers to assess blockchain's applicability and value.

Findings

Framework simplifies blockchain adoption decisions

Helps avoid inappropriate blockchain implementation

Supports managerial decision-making without technical expertise

Abstract

Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are gaining the interest of the academy, companies, and institutions. Nonetheless, the path toward blockchain adoption is not straightforward, as blockchain is a complex technology that requires revisiting the standard way of addressing problems and tackling them from a decentralized perspective. Thus, decision-makers adopt blockchain technology for the wrong reasons or prefer it to more suitable ones. This work presents a decision framework for blockchain adoption to help decision-makers decide whether blockchain is applicable, valuable, and preferable to other technologies. In particular, The decision framework is composed of a small set of questions that can be answered from a managerial standpoint and that do not require a deep technical knowledge of blockchain-related topics.