Factors influencing employees' intentions to adopt blockchain technology in accounting information systems in local government

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The development of blockchain and the benefits it promises to enhance accountability have led many countries to adopt it in their e-government. The motivation for this study was the lack of studies examining the adoption factors of blockchain in the accounting information system in local governments. Explicitly, this study investigated employees' intentions to adopt blockchain technology within the AIS of Indonesian Local Government Units by combining the Technology Acceptance Model and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as theoretical frameworks.METHODS: The research used a survey approach and focused on Local Government Units in the Yogyakarta Special Region Province. The respondents were employees using accounting software. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares method.FINDINGS: The results indicated that facilitating conditions, trust, and performance expectancy positively influenced the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of blockchain technology. Specifically, trust had a strong positive effect on both ease of use (β = 0.424, p < 0.01) and perceived usefulness (β = 0.364, p < 0.01), while performance expectancy strongly influenced perceived usefulness (β = 0.429, p < 0.01). Facilitating conditions were found to impact ease of use significantly (β = 0.220, p < 0.01) but not perceived usefulness (β = 0.044, p > 0.05). Regarding employees' intention to adopt blockchain, ease of use positively influenced the intention (β = 0.168, p < 0.05), while perceived usefulness did not (β = 0.093, p > 0.05). Mediation analysis revealed that ease of use partially mediated the relationship between trust and intention to adopt (indirect effect = 0.050, p < 0.05) and fully mediated the relationship between performance expectancy and intention to adopt (indirect effect β = 0.071, p < 0.05). Conversely, perceived usefulness did not mediate the adoption intention (indirect effects β = 0.004, 0.040, and 0.034, respectively, p > 0.05).CONCLUSION: These findings provided valuable insights for policymakers and local leaders in enhancing adoption strategies for blockchain technology in local government’s AIS, particularly by focusing on trust, ease of use, and performance expectancy.