The Implications of Blockchain for Knowledge Sharing

Blockchain (BLK) is believed to have the potential to disrupt traditional business models through inherent features such as distributed, decentralized, peer to peer, and security-by-design. However, the academic community mostly dedicated its BLK research to financial and more recent supply chain disciplines, overlooking BLK implications in other domains. This research aims to fill the research gap of BLK implications for knowledge management by investigating the potential effects of BLK use for knowledge sharing. To do so, four state-of-the-art real use cases, namely, Orvium, ARTiFACTS, Everipedia, and Steem, have been reviewed and explored here. We identified the impact of BLK on the antecedents and benefits of knowledge sharing through content analysis of available data on websites and white papers of associated cases. The results were categorized according to benefits (cost reduction, growth, intangible benefits) and individual antecedents of knowledge sharing (intention, motivation, reciprocity, trust). The results of this research paper provide insights into the research community by presenting the current state and future research avenues.