Description
Blockchain technology (BCT) securely stores digital information in a series of blocks, offering benefits such as enhanced security and traceability. With global implications, it has moved beyond the realm of cryptocurrencies, introducing game-changing features such as smart contracts. Various industries, particularly healthcare, pharmaceuticals and finance, have embraced the implementation of BCT. Similar to these industries, BCT is disrupting the hospitality and tourism sector by eliminating intermediaries and providing benefits to both suppliers and travelers, such as Webjet's implementation of Ethereum. This type of BCT implementation helps managers and businesses to have a better experience.
Despite its potential, the implementation of BCT has not been widely accepted, although it has been highly anticipated for many years (Kouhizadeh et al., 2021). Although there are different types of barriers to BCT, there is a paucity of research on them in the existing literature. In particular, no study has examined the political, economic, and psychological barriers that influence planning behavior in BCT. To fill this gap, this study draws on force field theory, the political, economic, and psychological barriers framework (P-E-P triangle) to examine the effects of political (lack of government policy), economic (cost), psychological factors (skepticism and psychological reactance) on BCT planning behavior. To achieve this, we will use a partial least squares technique to test a proposed model. Data will be collected through Prolific Academics from employees and managers in the hospitality and tourism industry. We expect political, economic, and psychological barriers to negatively affect blockchain planning behavior in the hospitality and tourism industry.
This study contributes to the current literature by expanding our understanding of blockchain, hospitality and tourism. It sheds light on the challenges of BCT by addressing various barriers, thus providing a comprehensive view of the topic. By exploring the barriers of BCT from different perspectives, this study highlights its indispensable role in understanding these barriers and developing successful strategies for the tourism and hospitality sector. Therefore, force field theory was chosen as the basis for this study to identify potential barriers. The study takes a more specific approach by incorporating the p-e-p triangle framework into the force field theory. In addition, research on the supply chain and finance has also highlighted that the uptake of BCTs may face challenges related to privacy, cost and political factors. However, while the relevance of empirical research on barriers to BCTs has increased, there is still a lack of research in the hospitality and tourism sector. Therefore, this study will be a leading empirical study focusing on barriers to BCT in the hospitality and tourism industry to highlight the dark side of BCT. This study has theoretical and managerial implications for scholars and practitioners.
