Shrestha Ajay K, Vassileva Julita, Joshi Sandhya, Just Jennifer
Department of Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Unaffiliated, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
PeerJ Comput Sci. 2021 May 21;7:e502. doi: 10.7717/peerj-cs.502. eCollection 2021.
In the collaborative business environment, blockchain coupled with smart contract removes the reliance on a central system and offers data integrity which is crucial when the transacting parties rely on the shared data. The acceptance of such blockchain-based systems is necessary for the continued use of the services. Despite many extensive studies evaluating the performance of blockchain-based systems, few have focused on users' acceptance of real-life applications.
The main objective of this research is to evaluate the user acceptance of a real-life blockchain-based system (BBS) by observing various latent variables affecting the development of users' attitudes and intention to use the system. It also aims to uncover the dimensions and role of trust, security and privacy alongside the primary Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-based predictors and their causal relationship with the users' behavior to adopt such BBS.
We tested the augmented TAM with Trust Model on a BBS that comprises two subsystems: a Shopping Cart System (SCS), a system oriented towards end-users and a Data Sharing System (DSS), a system oriented towards system administrators. We set research questions and hypotheses, and conducted online surveys by requesting each participant to respond to the questionnaire after using the respective system. The main study comprises two separate sub-studies: the first study was performed on SCS and the second on DSS. Furthermore, each study data comprises initial pre-test and post-test data scores. We analyzed the research model with partial least square structural equation modelling.
The empirical study validates our research model and supports most of the research hypotheses. Based on our findings, we deduce that TAM-based predictors and trust constructs cannot be applied uniformly to BBS. Depending on the specifics of the BBS, the relationships between perceived trust antecedents and attitudes towards the system might change. For SCS, trust is the strongest determinant of attitudes towards system, while DSS has perceived privacy as the strongest determinant of attitudes towards system. Quality of system shows the strongest total effect on intention to use SCS, while perceived usefulness has the strongest total effect on intention to use DSS. Trust has a positive significant effect on users' attitudes towards both BSS, while security does not have any significant effect on users' attitudes toward BBS. In SCS, privacy positively affects trust, but security has no significant effect on trust, whereas, in DSS, both privacy and security have significant effects on trust. In both BBS, trust has a moderating effect on privacy that correlates with attitudes towards BBS, whereas security does not have any mediating role between privacy and attitudes towards BBS. Hence, we recommend that while developing BBS, particular attention should be paid to increasing user trust and perceived privacy.
在协作式商业环境中，区块链与智能合约相结合，消除了对中央系统的依赖，并提供了数据完整性，这在交易各方依赖共享数据时至关重要。此类基于区块链的系统的接受度对于服务的持续使用至关重要。尽管有许多广泛的研究评估了基于区块链的系统的性能，但很少有研究关注用户对实际应用的接受度。
本研究的主要目的是通过观察影响用户态度发展和使用该系统意图的各种潜在变量，来评估用户对实际的基于区块链的系统（BBS）的接受度。它还旨在揭示信任、安全和隐私的维度及作用，以及基于技术接受模型（TAM）的主要预测因素及其与用户采用此类BBS行为的因果关系。
我们在一个由两个子系统组成的BBS上，用信任模型测试了扩展的TAM：一个购物车系统（SCS），一个面向终端用户的系统；以及一个数据共享系统（DSS），一个面向系统管理员的系统。我们设定了研究问题和假设，并通过要求每个参与者在使用各自系统后对问卷进行回答来进行在线调查。主要研究包括两个独立的子研究：第一个研究在SCS上进行，第二个在DSS上进行。此外，每个研究数据都包括初始预测试和后测试数据得分。我们用偏最小二乘结构方程模型分析了研究模型。
实证研究验证了我们的研究模型，并支持了大部分研究假设。基于我们的研究结果，我们推断基于TAM的预测因素和信任结构不能统一应用于BBS。根据BBS的具体情况，感知到的信任前因与对系统的态度之间的关系可能会发生变化。对于SCS，信任是对系统态度的最强决定因素，而对于DSS，感知到的隐私是对系统态度的最强决定因素。系统质量对使用SCS的意图显示出最强的总体影响，而感知有用性对使用DSS的意图具有最强的总体影响。信任对用户对两个BSS的态度都有显著的正向影响，而安全性对用户对BBS的态度没有任何显著影响。在SCS中，隐私对信任有正向影响，但安全性对信任没有显著影响，而在DSS中，隐私和安全性对信任都有显著影响。在两个BBS中，信任对与BBS态度相关的隐私有调节作用，而安全性在隐私和对BBS的态度之间没有任何中介作用。因此，我们建议在开发BBS时，应特别注意提高用户信任和感知隐私。
