Trust in a ‘trust-free’ system: Blockchain acceptance in the banking and finance sector

Blockchain is a disruptive technology that revolutionizes traditional business models and revamps relationships between financial transaction counterparties. While the volume of literature on blockchains has been rapidly growing in recent years, research on the relationship between trust and blockchain acceptance at the individual level is underexplored. Our study aims to fill this research gap by investigating the determinants of blockchain acceptance in the banking and finance sector from the affordance theory. We extend UTAUT model with trust-related constructs (trust in technology and trust among communities), advocate a research framework to examine the impact of trust on blockchain acceptance. Quantitative data were collected from 218 employees at Chinese banks, and structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data. Our empirical analysis revealed that these trust relationships are positively associated with the intention to accept blockchain technology. The results of polynomial regressions and the response surface support the significance of the trust congruence effect. We make a theoretical contribution by extending the UTAUT with two trust relationships in a Fintech context. The results can also be used as a guideline for the practitioners, inspiring them to consider the critical determinants of blockchains acceptance in blockchain implementation.