Effect of blockchain and inter-organizational trust on collaboration between contractors and supply chain partners

Despite conflicting opinions on blockchain’s impact on collaboration within construction projects, its definitive effect on the relationships between contractors and their supply chain partners (SCPs) remains largely unexplored. To address these gaps, this study constructed a conceptual framework that integrates blockchain with calculative trust, relational trust, and technology readiness. This framework was then evaluated using partial least squares structural equation modeling, drawing on a survey of 189 professionals working with contractors and their SCPs. Our findings underscore blockchain’s positive effect on collaboration between contractors and their SCPs. Two of the notable findings obtained from this study: (1) this relationship is mediated significantly by both calculative and relational trust, and (2) relational trust exhibited a more potent influence in mediating the effects of blockchain on collaboration than calculative trust did. Further, we found that technological readiness significantly bolstered the relationship between blockchain and collaboration.