Factors affecting the adoption of blockchain technology in innovative Italian companies: an extended TAM approach

Purpose – The present research aims to identify the determinants for users’ behavioral adoption of Blockchain, exploring the relationships among these variables and investigating whether the proposed model can provide a more comprehensive manner to understand the adoption of Blockchain technology. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) approach and extends it with external constructs: “reduced cost” and “efficiency and security”. This paper used a quantitative and exploratory approach through the collection and analysis of data from a total of 108 Italian innovative SME. We have used the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach using SmartPLS for model evaluation. Findings – The results show that “efficiency and security” is an important driver of firms’ decision-making process to adopt Blockchain. Moreover, the results show that perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of the intention to use Blockchain in business processes. Originality/value – This research advances the literature on technology adoption in business processes, focusing on a particular technology: Blockchain. The field has been strengthened by investigating the determinants of technology adoption, adding new perspectives; both reduced cost and efficiency, and security.