A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Blockchain technology and the consequences for trust in international business relations




AuthorsPalmunen, Lauri-Matti; Pelto, Elina; Karhu, Anna

PublisherInderscience Publishers

Publication year2025

Journal:European Journal of International Management

Article number10073474

Volume27

Issue2

First page 187

Last page212

ISSN1751-6757

eISSN1751-6765

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2025.10073474

Web address https://doi.org/10.1504/ejim.2025.10073474


Abstract

Trust has emerged as a theme of growing interest in International Business (IB), where institutional and cultural differences create challenges for trust establishment. Since the core of blockchain technology is based on the concept of trust, it is predicted to diminish these challenges by improving data reliability and reducing transaction costs. In more pessimistic scenarios, blockchain technology is not perceived to replace trust. Yet, both viewpoints agree there is a lack of research on how blockchain technology affects trust in IB. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to examine how blockchain technology affects the conceptualisation of trust in IB relations. We based our study on conceptual theory development, in which we combined trust-related constructs from IB and blockchain studies with practical examples. As findings, we introduce a construct of blockchain-based trust and present a model with propositions that will aid in exploring the changing role of trust in IB.



Last updated on 2025-24-10 at 13:21