What motivates public sector organisations to use blockchain?

• Date: 01 November 2024
• Pages: 118-138
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-12-2023-0361
• Published date: 01 November 2024
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management
• Author: Stanislav Mahula,Evrim Tan,Joep Crompvoets,Paul Timmers

What motivates public sector

organisations to use blockchain?

Stanislav Mahula, Evrim Tan and Joep Crompvoets

Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, and

Paul Timmers

Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium and

Oxford University, Oxford, UK

Abstract

Purpose –This article investigates decision-makers’ motivations in public sector organisations (PSOs) for

pursuing blockchain technology (BCT) projects in government settings. The research sheds light on the

underlying motivations that drive decision-makers to pursue BCT despite its inherent complexity and

uncertainty.

Design/methodology/approach –The study employs a grounded theory approach to explore the motivational

factors influencing PSO decision-makers. It integrates theoretical perspectives from public innovation, public

administration and technology adoption scholarship to link these motivational elements to academic debates

within public management literature. The empirical insights are derived from semi-structured interviews with

representatives involved in BCT initiatives.

Findings –In the pre-adoption stage, decision-makers are motivated to engage with blockchain for future

services if there are knowledgeable stakeholders with relevant experience, a well-justified business case,

sufficient resources and a supportive organisational environment free from undue pressure for immediate

results. Conversely, uncertain project continuity,limited existing legislation and the PSOs’ internal regulations

are seen as demotivators to engage with BCT.

Research limitations/implications –The findings call for further research to examine the extent to which the

identified (de)motivators interact with managerial decisions, such as delegate control or governance design, in

the actual implementation processes.

Originality/value –By combining theoretical insights with empirical data, this study offers a unique

perspective on how organisations approach new technologies while also underscoring the need to consider

unique aspects of BCT in the public sector setting, such as its governance and control, infrastructural and legal

changes and the necessary skills.

Keywords Technology acceptance model, Digitalisation, Public innovation

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Smart technologies, like blockchain technology (BCT) and artificial intelligence (AI), are

expected to grow in importance and use within the public sector in the coming decades (Criado

and Gil-Garcia, 2019). BCT is a tamper-proof database that enables the secure, decentralised

management of data exchanges, i.e. trustless and transparent peer-to-peer transactions without

the need for intermediaries. Blockchain innovations have the potential to generate financial

savings, eliminate intermediaries, reduce fraud and corruption, enhance data quality and

improve security for public sector organisations (PSOs) (Bosch et al., 2022;Casino et al.,

2019). However, the challenges surrounding BCT adoption include organisational capacity

constraints, low maturity and BCT’s inherent complexity (Allessie and Sobolewski, 2019;

Lindman et al., 2020). Notably, not many projects managed were successfully implemented

(Bosch et al., 2022), making it difficult to discuss its specific tangible outcomes.

Also, critics argue that certain blockchain projects could have been accomplished using

traditional database technologies, raising questions about the added value of blockchain

(Koens and Poll, 2019;Komorowski et al., 2021). Despite the uncertain promise, much testing

was initiated in the public sector worldwide, including voting, procurement and identity

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Funding: The project is funded through the internal C2 funding programme of the KU Leuven University.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0951-3558.htm

Received 14 December 2023

Revised 11 August 2024

8 October 2024

Accepted 9 October 2024

InternationalJournal of Public Sector

Management

Vol.38 No. 1, 2025

pp.118-138

©Emerald Publishing Limited

0951-3558

DOI10.1108/IJPSM-12-2023-0361

management domains (Cagigas et al., 2021;Governatori et al., 2018). Such interest in

blockchain is peculiar, given that PSOs are typically more risk-averse (Bozeman and Kingsley,

1998), suggesting that they are motivated by other factors. Broadly, motivation could be

understood as being driven or stimulated to act towards a specific goal or target (Andrews,

2016;Demircioglu and Chen, 2019). In the PSO context, “motivation” allows explaining why

certain decisions, such as blockchain adoption, are made. Thus, their decision-makers’

motivation is not only bound to pursue blockchain adoption benefits but also to the potential to

create public value through enhanced administrative processes and improved service delivery,

even though they are often not the final users of this innovation. Overall, the role of emerging

technologies, especially blockchain, in value creation for PSOs remains unexplored (Criado

and Gil-Garcia, 2019). We, therefore, aim to answer the following question: What motivates

decision-makers to engage with BCT in the public sector?

Various theories can shed light on the motivation of the public sector’s decision-makers,

including technology adoption models like “technology, organisation and environment”

(TOE) and diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), though they do not capture either the

peculiarity of the public sector or the unique features of blockchain; and public service

motivation (PSM) and public value theory (PVT), which highlight the intrinsic desire to serve

the public interest and create value for the community (Moore, 1997). To explore other

motives for engaging with high-uncertainty technology, we used the grounded theory

approach to analyse the empirical data from the interviews with the stakeholders involved in

real-life blockchain use cases from the Netherlands. We compiled theoretical concepts from

the related literature on motivation and technology adoption in the public sector to guide our

analysis during the selective coding phase, thus allowing us to conceptualise them as

motivators (including the gains and enablers) and demotivators (including risks and blockers).

In our study, we identified 62 unique factors influencing decision-makers’ motivation. We

conclude that suitable adoption conditions and considerable expected benefits, including

enhanced efficiency and public value, motivate decision-makers to adopt blockchain.

Ultimately, they are motivated to launch blockchain projects when funding and a suitable

business case are available, particularly in transactions and trust scenarios. Certain elements in

our results are linked to the governance decisions within each use case, e.g. the choices on

interoperability and changes in the managerial structures, suggesting that future research could

investigate their role in blockchain use cases in more depth. The article is structured as follows:

Section 2 overviews the literature and introduces the conceptual framework, followed by

Section 3, where the methodology is outlined. Section 4 presents our study’s results, while the

discussion chapter is presented in Section 5. Finally,the conclusions are presented in Section 6.

2. Theoretical overview

2.1 Motivation in public organisations

The implementation and impacts of innovations – including emerging technologies – are not

predetermined but rather influenced by the actions and interpretations of the individuals

involved in the process (Kaptelinin and Nardi, 2009). Blockchain is not a technology with

evident benefits; its rationality can be contested (Koens and Poll, 2019), yet it sparked

considerable interest worldwide, including in the public sector (Ølnes et al., 2017;Semenzin

et al., 2022). With this article, we aim to explore various motivational elements that motivate

decision-makers to engage with BCT despite its lack of evident benefits.

Arising from the first studies on public administration and still developing, the literature

concerning motivation in the public sector largely focuses on individual employees’

motivation to perform their duties, explained through the public service motivation (PSM)

theories (Anderfuhren-Biget et al., 2010;Andrews, 2016). The theories postulate that public

servants are motivated by intrinsic desires to serve the public good, uphold ethical standards

and engage in pro-social behaviours (Perry et al., 2010). While some theoretical speculations

about blockchain benefits exist, they often do not directly link to public value creation due to

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