Explaining public officials' opinions on blockchain adoption: a vignette experiment

Blockchain is emerging as one of the major disruptive technologies of our times. In the context of public administration, blockchain heralds major transformations of public service provision and has the potential to increase the transparency of, and citizens' trust in, public administration and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cagigas Castro, Diego|||0000-0002-4974-6335, Clifton, Judith|||0000-0001-6081-6800, Díaz Fuentes, Daniel|||0000-0002-6290-2363, Fernández Gutiérrez, Marcos|||0000-0002-4000-9283, Echevarría Cuenca, Juan, Gilsanz Gómez, Celia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/26997
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/26997
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Blockchain
Public officials
Public services
Innovation policy
e-government
Descripción
Sumario:Blockchain is emerging as one of the major disruptive technologies of our times. In the context of public administration, blockchain heralds major transformations of public service provision and has the potential to increase the transparency of, and citizens' trust in, public administration and its services. However, the introduction of blockchain to public administrations means potentially changing aspects of the job performed by public officials, including their day-to-day activities and responsibilities, and even their very control over administrative processes. While some public officials may view blockchain positively as a means of improving current administrative practices, others may view it more negatively and resist it. The acceptance or otherwise of blockchain is, therefore, a fundamental issue for analysis. We conduct a vignette experiment to probe public officials' opinions on the introduction of blockchain in the provision of public services in a local council. We follow an influential classification of blockchain configurations to analyze whether different configurations of blockchain affect public officials' opinions toward its implementation. Results show that a more public configuration of certain aspects of the blockchain increases the likelihood that public officials will accept blockchain, while it is also associated with an increase in trust in public administration and its services.