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Special Issue "Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem"

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A special issue of Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (ISSN 0718-1876). This special issue belongs to the section "Entrepreneurship, Innovation, FinTech Accounting and Industry 4.0".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 December 2022) | Viewed by 32651

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Dr. Jani Merikivi
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Department Management & Technology, Grenoble Ecole de Management, 38000 Grenoble, France
Interests: e-commerce; management, information and communication technologies; virtual worlds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Blockchain, conceptualized by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, supports transacting cryptocurrencies like bitcoins. It builds on an immutable and decentralized database – thanks to advanced cryptography and peer-to-peer technology. To ensure reliability, a community of users verifies each transaction included in a block that is then added to a blockchain. The entire blockchain is then shared to everyone in the network to make sure that no record can be modified or deleted without anyone noticing it.

Besides cryptocurrencies, there are various other applications like music royalties tracking system (Mediachain), medical data transfer system (Burstiq), and transparent food supply chain system (IBM Food Trust) that run on blockchain. Even the blockchain itself comes in many forms and shapes (e.g., Ethereum, Hyperledger, etc.).

Sky is the limit is a worn out yet appropriate idiom to illustrate the opportunities blockchain offers. Take the novel blockchain-based gaming industry as an example. Inspired by Pokémon, an Ethereum-based game, Axie Infinity, which allows its players to make money through gameplay, has quickly become one of the most valuable collection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). And it is not the only one, as CryptoBlades is also booming. Both these two games are attracting hundreds of thousands of active players. They are revolutionizing the gaming industry.

Since new applications keep emerging also in electronic commerce (e.g., bitcoin payment systems, gaming, loyalty programs, etc.), it is no surprise that many believe blockchain will transform the industry and redefine how online businesses operate in the future. Yet, there is still little research on blockchain enabled and induced applications in electronic commerce. Further research and development are also needed to overcome challenges concerning innovative blockchain based business models and strategies, particularly those that create value to online consumers.

Therefore, the goal of this special issue in Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research is to advance theoretical and applicative research in all fields of electronic commerce (e.g., mobile commerce, online advertising, payment systems, sharing economy, crowdsourcing, omni-commerce, social media, etc.). As such, the special issue offers a venue for papers that help increase our understanding of how blockchain will transform electronic commerce.

Topics

The Special Issue welcomes contributions in the following topics, but is not limited to them:

Open and permissioned blockchains in electronic commerce
Blockchain, security, privacy, and trust in electronic commerce
Use of smart contract and distributed ledger in electronic commerce
Innovative electronic commerce applications driven by blockchain
Decentralized applications (DAPPs) in electronic commerce
Blockchain-enabled next generation business models, applications, and value creation
Implications of blockchain on logistics and marketing management
Electronic commerce strategies and blockchain
Payment systems and blockchain
Consumer behavior and cryptocurrencies
Blockchain-based gaming
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and their applications

Dr. Jani Merikivi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

blockchain
distributed ledger
decentralized applications
electronic commerce
innovation management
consumer behavior
strategy
trust
privacy
security
NFTs
Gaming

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Blockchain-Driven Optimal Strategies for Supply Chain Finance Based on a Tripartite Game Model

and

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(4), 1320-1335; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17040067 - 16 Oct 2022

Viewed by 556

Abstract

Applying blockchain to supply chain financing is an effective way to solve the problems of financing difficulties, high financing costs, and slow financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMZEs). Using evolutionary game theory, this study constructs a tripartite game model and analyzes the influence of blockchain technology on the evolutionary stability strategies for financial institutions (FIs), core enterprises (CEs), and SMZEs, in which the default losses of CEs and SMZEs are assumed to be dynamic. The results of this study are as follows: (1) When CEs and SMZESs’ default losses are lower than some critical value, they tend to break their promises. (2) When accounts receivable are greater than some critical value, CEs cannot repay on time because they can make a relatively large profits from delayed repayment, whereas SMZEs can be constrained to be trustworthy. Finally, the results using numerical simulation show that both relatively large default losses and enough large, trustworthy income sources can make CEs and SMZEs tend to keep their promises; in turn, CEs would be non-paying and the SMZEs tend to be trustworthy for relatively large accounts receivable. The results provide theoretical support for realizing healthy and sustainable development for supply chain finance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

A Loyalty System Incorporated with Blockchain and Call Auction

Shu-Fen Tu

Ching-Sheng Hsu

and

Yan-Ting Wu

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(3), 1107-1123; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17030056 - 04 Aug 2022

Viewed by 937

Abstract

A loyalty program is a type of incentive to reward customers’ perceived value and enhance their purchasing behavior. The key to the success of a loyalty program is to allow customers to more actively participate in the program. One possible solution is to allow customers to sell out idle loyalty points and buy in the points that they need. On the basis of a call auction, this study designs a peer-to-peer exchange mechanism for customers to realize the above trade. In addition, a blockchain-based system is developed to support the issuance, redemption, and exchange of loyalty points. In this study, Hyperledger Fabric is adopted as the underlying blockchain technology because it has some features that are beneficial to a cross-organizational coalition loyalty program. This study also proposes a feasible multi-host deployment scheme for the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain network that is suitable for our application scenario. Finally, some implementation results are given to demonstrate the system process from the perspective of the application layer. The mechanism proposed in this study is helpful to improve the likelihood of successfully exchanging points, thus accelerating the circulation and use of loyalty points. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

The Impact of Offline Service Effort Strategy on Sales Mode Selection in an E-Commerce Supply Chain with Showrooming Effect

Xiangsheng Wang

and

Temuer Chaolu

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(3), 893-908; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17030046 - 24 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1174

Abstract

In practice, several e-commerce platforms offering online channels not only act as resellers but also serve as the marketplace. However, the existing literature rarely explores the impact of the offline service effort strategy with the showrooming effect on the platform’s optimal sales mode. Considering a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a platform, we examine the interplay between the manufacturer’s offline service effort strategy and the platform’s online sales modes. We derive conditions under which each of the four scenarios (adopting the service effort strategy under the agency or reselling modes, not adopting the service effort strategy under the agency or reselling modes) emerges in equilibrium. Our results show that the service effort strategy with the showrooming effect can induce the platform’s sales mode selection. Specifically, when the referral fee is low and the showrooming effect is moderate, the platform may choose the agency mode instead of the reselling mode, while when the referral fee is sufficiently high and the showrooming effect is moderate, the platform may adopt the reselling mode instead of the agency mode. Furthermore, when the competition intensity and showrooming effect are sufficiently small, the service effort strategy will be beneficial to the manufacturer and the platform, creating a win-win situation. When the competition intensity or showrooming effect is sufficiently large, the service effort strategy may cause a prisoner’s dilemma for the manufacturer and the platform. In addition, the supply chain consisting of a manufacturer, an offline store and an online platform is also studied in the extension section, and we find that our main results are valid. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Design of a Blockchain-Based Service Platform for Industrial Interconnection Supply and Demand Networks

Jianjia He

and

Ni Zhang

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(2), 773-788; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17020040 - 03 Jun 2022

Viewed by 1129

Abstract

With the continuous cross-border cooperation among industries, the concept of an industrial interconnection supply and demand network is constantly mentioned. As industry interconnectivity continues to grow, collaboration models have changed as companies work more closely with each other, and the synergy model has changed. In order to improve the efficiency of collaboration and to promote the free allocation of resources in the trading process of the industry interconnection supply and demand network, an industry interconnection supply and demand network resource matching platform based on the Alliance blockchain was built, steps for resource trading on the platform were proposed. Using blockchain technology’s smart contract technology to simplify the transaction process, the triggering mechanism and algorithm rules of smart contracts in the trading process of the platform were designed, and the smart contract code was developed, deployed, and tested using Remix IDE, and the test results showed the transaction process between the supply and demand sides. Through blockchain technology, it achieves information security and transparency in the process of resource trading in the industry interconnection supply and demand network, establishes a trust mechanism on both sides of the transaction, reduces redundant steps in the transaction and improves the operational efficiency of the industry interconnection supply and demand network by increasing the efficiency of resource allocation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Synergistic Mechanism of the High-Quality Development of the Urban Digital Economy from Blockchain Adoption Perspective—A Configuration Approach

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J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(2), 704-721; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17020037 - 26 May 2022

Viewed by 1140

Abstract

Blockchain technology is suited to the high-quality development of the digital economy in addressing privacy and data security issues. This study explores the synergistic mechanism of the following six factors from three dimensions based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework theory with a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) method: technology, organization, and environment, namely, Blockchain service capability, Blockchain knowledge accumulation, government attention allocation, government funding support, industry carrying capacity and blockchain technology R&D environment, on the quality of the digital economy of 43 cities in China. The conclusions are as follows: (1) the absence of government funding regarding the blockchain domain is a condition contributing to the absence of high urban digital economy quality; (2) there are three driving configurations for the high-quality urban digital economy in the blockchain technology adoption perspective, which are as follows: knowledge-industry driven, government-service driven, and R&D-service driven; (3) there is one driving configuration for the absence of high urban digital economy quality, namely the knowledge-R&D-funding-inhibiting type. The relevant policy implications can provide theoretical references for local governments to develop the digital economy with the help of blockchain technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Application of Benford’s Law on Cryptocurrencies

Jernej Vičič

and

Aleksandar Tošić

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(1), 313-326; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17010016 - 25 Feb 2022

Viewed by 2099

Abstract

The manuscript presents a study of the possibility of use of Benford’s law conformity test, a well proven tool in the accounting fraud discovery, on a new domain: the discovery of anomalies (possibly fraudulent behaviour) in the the cryptocurrency transactions. Blockchain-based currencies or cryptocurrencies have become a global phenomenon known to most people as a disruptive technology, and a new investment vehicle. However, due to their decentralized nature, regulating these markets has presented regulators with difficulties in finding a balance between nurturing innovation, and protecting consumers. The growing concerns about illicit activity have forced regulators to seek new ways of detecting, analyzing, and ultimately policing public blockchain transactions. Extensive research on machine learning, and transaction graph analysis algorithms has been done to track suspicious behaviour. However, having a macro view of a public ledger is equally important before pursuing a more fine-grained analysis. Benford’s law, the law of first digit, has been extensively used as a tool to discover accountant frauds (many other use cases exist). The basic motivation that drove our research presented in this paper was to test the applicability of the well established method to a new domain, in this case the identification of anomalous behavior using Benford’s law conformity test to the cryptocurrency domain. The research focused on transaction values in all major cryptocurrencies. A suitable time-period was identified that was long enough to present sufficiently large number of observations for Benford’s law conformity tests and was also situated long enough in the past so that the anomalies were identified and well documented. The results show that most of the cryptocurrencies that did not conform to Benford’s law had well documented anomalous incidents, the first digits of aggregated transaction values of all well known cryptocurrency projects were conforming to Benford’s law. Thus the proposed method is applicable to the new domain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Sentiment Analysis of Review Data Using Blockchain and LSTM to Improve Regulation for a Sustainable Market

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J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2022, 17(1), 1-19; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer17010001 - 22 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2449

Abstract

E-commerce has developed greatly in recent years, as such, its regulations have become one of the most important research areas in order to implement a sustainable market. The analysis of a large amount of reviews data generated in the shopping process can be used to facilitate regulation: since the review data is short text and it is easy to extract the features through deep learning methods. Through these features, the sentiment analysis of the review data can be carried out to obtain the users’ emotional tendency for a specific product. Regulators can formulate reasonable regulation strategies based on the analysis results. However, the data has many issues such as poor reliability and easy tampering at present, which greatly affects the outcome and can lead regulators to make some unreasonable regulatory decisions according to these results. Blockchain provides the possibility of solving these problems due to its trustfulness, transparency and unmodifiable features. Based on these, the blockchain can be applied for data storage, and the Long short-term memory (LSTM) network can be employed to mine reviews data for emotional tendencies analysis. In order to improve the accuracy of the results, we designed a method to make LSTM better understand text data such as reviews containing idioms. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method, different experiments were used for verification, with all results showing that the proposed method can achieve a good outcome in the sentiment analysis leading to regulators making better decisions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Cryptocurrency Trading Websites on Airlines’ Advertisement Campaigns

Damianos P. Sakas

Nikolaos T. Giannakopoulos

Dimitrios P. Reklitis

and

Thomas K. Dasaklis

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(7), 3099-3119; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16070169 - 12 Nov 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3473

Abstract

In future years, airline companies will be leaning more and more towards cryptocurrencies to implement their digital marketing strategies as leaders seek to gain an understanding of the factors affecting airlines’ visibility parameters. Cryptocurrency investment websites are currently experiencing rising demand, making them an appropriate site for paid advertisements. The above factors suggest the need for airlines to harvest cryptocurrency investment and platform users in their favour. To this end, it can be beneficial for airlines’ web promotions to link certain web analytics metrics to cryptocurrency trading site metrics. For research purposes, web analytics data were monitored and gathered for 2 consecutive years from 10 globally leading cryptocurrency trading companies and 10 airline websites. A three-stage model was adopted by the authors. In the first stage, statistical analysis was implemented using cryptocurrency and airline metrics, followed by fuzzy cognitive mapping and agent-based modelling stages. The findings of the study indicate that engagement with cryptocurrency trading websites has a positive impact on airline websites’ global ranking and visibility parameters. The outcomes of this research provide noteworthy digital marketing strategies which can be addressed by airline companies to increase their website visitors and optimise visibility parameters with the assistance of cryptocurrency trading websites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chain Finance

Arief Rijanto

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(7), 3078-3098; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16070168 - 08 Nov 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5137

Abstract

Supply Chain Finance (SCF) faces the complex problem of implementing inventory, purchase order and accounts receivable financing automation in terms of transaction data trust and validation. This paper aims to explore how blockchain technology adoption solves the SCF problem using a multi-case method based on the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM). With purposive sampling, 30 cases were selected on the criteria of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in solving SCF problems. The results show that trust, validity and distributed ledger transaction data as perceived usefulness are the main drivers of blockchain adoption because it provides solutions to SCF automation problems such as Know Your Customer (KYC), accounting, and transaction settlement. Smart contracts offer easy and fast transactions such as in L/C export processing as perceived ease to use. Of the 30 blockchain projects, 21 offer the usefulness of automated accounts receivable financing, 15 offer easy-to-use purchase order financing and 8 offer easy-to-use inventory financing processes. This study provides the current state of blockchain technology adoption by exploring 30 real application cases in SCF globally. Blockchain advantages provide automation solutions in global supply SCF practices with smart contracts, transparency and security of distributed ledger data feature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Blockchain Technology Preventing Supply Chain Financial Risks

Rui Sun

Dayi He

and

Huilin Su

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(7), 2824-2842; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16070155 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2173

Abstract

Because of the risks existing in supply chain finance, taking accounts receivable factoring business as the research object, this paper uses the evolutionary game method to analyzes the factors affecting the decision-making of the participants in supply chain finance, constructs an evolutionary game model between small and medium-sized enterprises and financial institutions, and analyzes the mechanism of blockchain to solve the financial risks of the supply chain by comparing the changes of evolutionary stability strategies before and after the introduction of blockchain technology. This paper aims to reduce financing risks by analyzing the mechanism of blockchain technology in supply chain finance. It is found that, firstly, blockchain technology can reduce the credit risk of financial institutions and solve financing problem. Credit risk plays a decisive role in whether financial institutions accept financing business decisions. Blockchain technology can reduce the operational risk of financial institutions and improve the business income of financial institutions. Secondly, the strict regulatory environment formed by blockchain technology makes the default behavior of small and medium-sized enterprises and core enterprises in a high-risk state at all times. No matter the profit distribution proportion that small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain through collusion, they will not choose to default, which effectively solves the paradox that small and medium-sized enterprises cannot obtain loans from financial institutions despite the increased probability of compliance. Then, the evolutionary game between financial institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises is balanced in that financial institutions accept business applications, small and medium-sized enterprises abide by the contract, and the convergence effect is better. Therefore, blockchain technology not only reduces the financing risk of financial institutions but also helps to solve the financing problems of small and medium-sized enterprises. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

T-Smart: Trust Model for Blockchain Based Smart Marketplace

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J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(6), 2405-2423; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16060132 - 17 Sep 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1770

Abstract

With the innovation of embedded devices, the concept of smart marketplace came into existence. A smart marketplace is a platform on which participants can trade multiple resources, such as water, energy, bandwidth. Trust is an important factor in the trading platform, as the participants would prefer to trade with those peers who have a high trust rating. Most of the existing trust management models for smart marketplace only provide a single aggregated trust score for a participant. However, they lack the mechanism to gauge the level of commitment shown by a participant while trading a particular resource. This work aims to provide a fine-grained trust score for a participant with respect to each resource that it trades. Several parameters, such as resource availability, success rate, and turnaround time are used to gauge the participant’s level of commitment, specific to the resource being traded. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed model is validated through security analysis against ballot-stuffing and bad-mouthing attacks, along with simulationbased analysis and a comparison in terms of accuracy, false positive, false negative, computational cost and latency. The results indicate that the proposed trust model has 7% better accuracy, 30.13% lower computational cost and 31.74% less latency compared to the existing benchmark model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

Blockchain-Based Address Alias System

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J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(5), 1280-1296; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16050072 - 13 Apr 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3729

Abstract

In recent years, blockchains systems have seen massive adoption in retail and enterprise environments. Cryptocurrencies become more widely adopted, and many online businesses have decided to add the most popular ones, like Bitcoin or Ethereum, next to Visa or Mastercard payments. Due to the decentralized nature of blockchain-based systems, there is no possible way to revert confirmed transactions. It may result in losses caused by human error or poor design of the user interface. We created a cryptocurrency wallet with a full on-chain solution for aliasing accounts and tokens to improve user experience and avoid unnecessary errors. The aliasing system consists of a number of smart contracts deployed on top of the blockchain network that give the ability to register aliases to accounts and tokens and use them instead of opaque addresses. Our solution shows how performant modern blockchains are and presents a way of building fully decentralized applications that can compete with centralized ones in terms of performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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Open AccessArticle

A Reference Architecture for Blockchain-Based Crowdsourcing Platforms

Yiwei Gong

Sélinde van Engelenburg

and

Marijn Janssen

J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 2021, 16(4), 937-958; https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16040053 - 07 Mar 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3154

Abstract

Companies increasingly tender knowledge-intensive tasks using crowdsourcing platforms to gain access to scarce knowledge and skills otherwise out of reach, and in this way, gaining competitive advantage. Despite its potential, existing crowdsourcing platforms encounter several challenges, including (1) fragmentation of expertise, as there are many platforms, (2) distrust between task providers and crowdsourcing participants, as identity and past performance are often not known, and (3) inability to learn from experience due to a lack of openness. A reference architecture for blockchain-based knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing platforms to mediate transactions between demand and supply of knowledge is designed in this paper to overcome these challenges. A design science research method is followed to develop the architecture. The reference architecture shows how blockchain and smart contract components can be integrated to support and coordinate knowledge-intensive crowdsourcing activities. By removing traditional e-commerce intermediaries, blockchain reduces search friction, knowledge transfer costs, and cheating by task providers or crowdsourcing participants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Blockchain Commerce Ecosystem)

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