Application of blockchain for supply chain financing : explaining the drivers using SEM

Owing to the lack of research in emerging Asian nations, this research aimed to unearth the determinants of blockchain acceptance for supply chain financing by a Bangladeshi financing company called IPDC. Centred on a technology acceptance framework called UTAUT (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) and open innovation research, an expanded model with a mediating variable is developed for this study. This research work employs the deductive inference method in conjunction with the positivism paradigm. A structural questionnaire was used to gather data, which were then processed through Smart-PLS (partial least square) for SEM (structural equation modeling). The survey includes all the people who are directly or indirectly involved in the supply chain financing platform of IPDC. The study consists of seven direct hypotheses and one mediating hypothesis. The results show that all the direct hypotheses except the impact of social influence on the behavioural intention to use (BINTU) blockchain are significant. The mediating hypothesis indicating the role of BINTU in the relationship between facilitating conditions (FCON) and the actual use of blockchain is also supported. FCON and BINTU together explain 88.7% variation in blockchain use behaviour for supply chain financing. The research advances past findings by employing an expanded UTAUT framework and validating observations with the other relevant studies throughout the world.