Blockchain technology and the consequences for trust in international business relations

Trust has emerged as a theme of growing interest in International Business (IB), where institutional and cultural differences create challenges for trust establishment. Since the core of blockchain technology is based on the concept of trust, it is predicted to diminish these challenges by improving data reliability and reducing transaction costs. In more pessimistic scenarios, blockchain technology is not perceived to replace trust. Yet, both viewpoints agree there is a lack of research on how blockchain technology affects trust in IB. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to examine how blockchain technology affects the conceptualisation of trust in IB relations. We based our study on conceptual theory development, in which we combined trust-related constructs from IB and blockchain studies with practical examples. As findings, we introduce a construct of blockchain-based trust and present a model with propositions that will aid in exploring the changing role of trust in IB.