Blockchain technology in construction organizations: risk assessment using trapezoidal fuzzy ordinal priority approach
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 19 April 2022
Issue publication date: 15 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
In the digital transformation era, the construction industry is not immune to unintended consequences and disruptions of distributed ledger technologies like blockchain. At the micro-level, construction organizations need an in-depth understanding of blockchain risks to take proactive strategies for being on the safe side. This study seeks to answer “What are the risks associated with blockchain technology from the firm-level perspective? And how can this disruptive technology overshadow the business objectives and impact organizational criteria?”
Design/methodology/approach
The current research proposes a novel model for risk assessment based on the trapezoidal fuzzy ordinal priority approach (OPA-F) in the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) context. The proposed model handles uncertainties of experts' judgment around three primary parameters: the importance of organizational criteria, the impact of blockchain risks on criteria and the probability of risk occurrence.
Findings
The case study shows that organizational “communication and information” is exposed to the most blockchain risk. On the contrary, blockchain has less to do with an organization's “corporate social responsibility.” Furthermore, effective blockchain risk management can bring about cost efficiency, quality and improved customer experience for this case study. In the end, the authors develop a conceptual blockchain risk management framework based on findings.
Research limitations/implications
This study will broaden researchers' horizons regarding “blockchain in construction context” and “blockchain risk management.”
Practical implications
Furthermore, executives looking for blockchain-based solutions can benefit from research findings and lessons learned from this case study before decision-making. Lastly, the risk assessment model based on trapezoidal OPA-F can be used both for research purposes and industrial decision problems.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is for the first time that the OPA-F is employed in a risk assessment model. Also, the original OPA-F is extended to trapezoidal OPA-F using trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, and it is the first attempt to evaluate blockchain risks facing construction organizations and develop a blockchain risk management framework accordingly.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their important suggestions. The work presented in this paper corresponds to the doctoral dissertation of the first author at Southeast University, China. More information regarding the Ordinal Priority Approach (OPA) can be found at www.ordinalpriorityapproach.com.
Funding: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. (72171048 and 71771052).
Citation
Sadeghi, M., Mahmoudi, A. and Deng, X. (2023), "Blockchain technology in construction organizations: risk assessment using trapezoidal fuzzy ordinal priority approach", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 2767-2793. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-01-2022-0014
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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