Navigating the power of blockchain strategy: Analysis of technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and innovation resistance theory using PLS-SEM and ANN insights

Blockchain technology is rapidly replacing traditional technologies. This technology offers numerous benefits, including transparency, safety and security, authenticity, and traceability, which drive business organizations to adopt it. Thus, the factors that generate resistance to the adoption of blockchain technology must be recognized, and an organization's strategy toward adopting blockchain technology must be influenced. In this study, the vital factors that produce resistance to blockchain technology from the perspective of oil companies operating in Iraq were determined. The three-pronged framework of technology, organization, and environment (TOE) was employed to identify the elements that affect resistance to blockchain technology, with subsequent effects on the blockchain strategy. Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed among the managers of the target companies. Among the 381 distributed questionnaires, 313 usable responses were gathered and analyzed via partial least square–structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings show that all the elements of the TOE framework are crucially associated with resistance to blockchain technology and consequently shape the blockchain strategy. Furthermore, resistance to blockchain technology mediates the link between predictors of TOE factors and the blockchain strategy. Therefore, in this work, the present knowledge on resistance to blockchain technology and the blockchain strategy is enhanced by explicating the factors inhibiting blockchain technology adoption in a previously overlooked context. The findings provide practical insight for managers of oil companies to devise effective blockchain strategies for the optimal adoption of blockchain technology.