Title: Blockchain technology and relational gains in business interactions: a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis of supply chain specialists' perceptions

Authors: Fabiano Cardoso De Oliveira; Roberto Zanoni; Rafael Dalla-Rosa; Jorge Renato Verschoore

Addresses: Prog de Pós-Grad em Admin, Área Escola de Gestão e Negócios – PPGAdm, UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil ' Prog de Pós-Grad em Admin, Área Escola de Gestão e Negócios – PPGAdm, UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil ' Prog de Pós-Grad em Admin, Área Escola de Gestão e Negócios – PPGAdm, UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil ' Prog de Pós-Grad em Admin, Área Escola de Gestão e Negócios – PPGAdm, UNISINOS – Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil

Abstract: This paper studied how the adoption of blockchain technology impact the generation of relational gains. For this, we developed a qualitative comparative analysis and collected evidence from ten supply chain specialists regarding their perceptions of blockchain technology in their areas of expertise. Fuzzy set data were coded and loaded into the fsQCA v3.0 software. We also carried out a content analysis of the interviews. Our findings showed that blockchain technology contributes to the generation of relational gains. Blockchain technology impacts the four conditions of the relational view: specific assets, knowledge-sharing routines, complementarity of resources and capabilities, and effective governance. Academically, our findings connect supply chain to the relational view and reveal new perspectives and insights to the operations management studies. Managerially, our findings assist supply chain managers in developing strategies to implement blockchain technology, considering the four conditions highlighted by the relational view.

Keywords: blockchain technology; supply chain; supply chain management; relational view; relational gains; qualitative comparative analysis; QCA; fuzzy set; fsQCA software.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2021.120777

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2021 Vol.13 No.4, pp.372 - 390

Received: 12 Aug 2020
Accepted: 11 Jan 2021
Published online: 08 Feb 2022 *

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