Abstract
As a decentralised digital ledger, blockchain has become a buzzword in the recent years, due to its advantageous characteristics. The application of blockchain has been associated with different implications, ranging from trust generator to increased efficiency. Recently, blockchain application has gained momentum by being implemented by different governments and public bodies, as a solution for tackling different issues, with the intent of providing more efficient public policies. Different blockchain-based systems and platforms have been increasingly introduced as a more secure and orderly alternative of delivering various public functions and services. Given the expansion of use cases in different countries and the scattered information in this regard, this chapter develops a taxonomy of blockchain outcomes in the public domain by identifying the emerging patterns and subcategories. The proposed taxonomy can support decision makers and researchers to better identify the various blockchain applications, alongside their benefits, implications, and possible associated risks.
TopIntroduction
Blockchain is a decentralized data management technology that, through a distributed ledger, provides new ways of managing, governing, storing, and distributing information (Iansiti and Lakhami, 2017; SunYin et al, 2019). At the core of blockchain, there is a computer protocol acting as an automatic contract enforcing exchanges between parties by means of irreversible and secure transactions (Cong et al., 2017). Blockchain’s novel technology also presents a new way of establishing trust through its different consensus protocols and cryptography that make transactions verifiable and fault tolerant (Beck et al.,2016; Shin, 2019). The advantage of blockchain is that it also has different architectural configurations allowing for better fitting the application of blockchain to different objectives. The different architectural dispositions, such as network access, type of consensus mechanism, data control and network type, offer the opportunity to allow or restrict access while also offering elevated security (Zhang and Lee, 2020).
The current body of knowledge has shifted into disseminating the potential of blockchain into numerous different applications and sectors that go beyond the financial sector and cryptocurrency (Alharby and Moorsel, 2017). The diversity of blockchain applications in terms of scope is not only related to the multi-purpose nature of such technology, but also to various needs. Governments today continue to face the need to be more open and transparent in the eyes of the society (Hollyer et al., 2011). In turn, openness and transparency are considered to be the main components that lead to building strong accountability and trust in a society (Gaventa, 2013; Johnston, 2001). Considering that the root to most of the public policies failure is due to incompetence, corruption, or inefficient governance (Mueller, 2020), this gives reason to explore blockchain as a possible solution to such issues (Hyvarinen, 2017). In fact, blockchain has been adopted in the public domain to enforce existing or new policies through a digital transformation process that offers a rapid accomplishment to multiple societal goals by different governmental bodies (Berryhill, 2018).
Given the dispersive nature of the applications, we find it important to understand the digital transformation rationale behind the adoption of blockchain in public domain, and secondly, to provide a classification of what blockchain outcomes derive from different applications. In this regard, we believe that, under specific conditions, blockchain can be an enabler of digital transformation (Vial, 2019), since it is a technology that creates disruption. Additionally, we agree that digital transformation is more often than ever a byproduct of the need to address different societal challenges (Majchrzak et al., 2016). By highlighting the value created by digital transformation processes when societal challenges are addressed, we are interested in looking at the blockchain applications in the public domain that demonstrate to have achieved improvements that go beyond the efficiency of a specific service. Therefore, we develop a taxonomy (Nickerson et al., 2013) that answers the following research question: “What are the observed dimensions of blockchain initiatives in the public domain?”.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Distributed ledger: A type of a database that records digital transactions whose information and details are documented in multiple places simultaneously.
Smart Contract: A self-executing contract whose terms and agreements are written in the form of computer code that ensure the execution of transactions.
Blockchain: A decentralized digital ledger that records executed transactions in the form of blocks with a cryptographic hash and specific timestamp.
Public Domain: The services owned and controlled by the government and/or despite being private are funded by governmental authorities.
Digital Transformation: A transformation referring to the change in business processes and culture due the introduction of digital technology.
Taxonomy: A system of classification according to predefined specific criteria.