Blockchain Technology in Business and Information Systems Research

Peer reviewe

A Blockchain-Based Approach Towards Overcoming Financial Fraud in Public Sector Services

In financial markets it is common for companies and individuals to invest into foreign companies. To avoid the double taxation of investors on dividend payment - both in the country where the profit is generated as well as the country of residence - most governments have entered into bilateral double taxation treaties, whereby investors can claim a tax refund in the country where the profit is generated. Due to easily forgeable documents and insufficient international exchange of information between tax authorities, investors illegitimately apply for these tax returns causing an estimated damage of 1.8 billion USD, for example, in Denmark alone. This paper assesses the potential of a blockchain database to provide a feasible solution for overcoming this problem against the backdrop of recent advances in the public sector and the unique set of blockchain capacities. Towards this end, we develop and evaluate a blockchain-based prototype system aimed at eliminating this type of tax fraud and increasing transparency regarding the flow of dividends. While the prototype is based on the specific context of the Danish tax authority, we discuss how it can be generalized for tracking international and interorganizational transactions

A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review [version 2; referees: 2 approved]

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

Towards stakeholder governance on large e-government platforms:a case of Suomi.fi

Abstract E-government evolves towards large-scale software platforms that integrate access to and information exchange among public services. Governance of large-scale e-government platforms is challenging because of the large number of stakeholders with diverging needs, agendas, and changing service portfolios. This paper presents a revelatory case, the e-government platform Suomi.fi, its stakeholders and stakeholder interactions related to development and governance of the platform. Our stakeholder analysis of Suomi.fi identified 15 stakeholder interaction types and related issues regarded as important for governance of large-scale e-government platforms. The results contribute by addressing the importance of stakeholder identification and continuing governance beyond individual development and implementation projects. Such a large-scale platform involved additional stakeholder types of external influencers (including media, other countries, the European Union, third party software integrators) and other external platforms, compared to the project-centric stakeholder models. Hence, we argue for extended stakeholder governance models and practices for large-scale e-government platforms

Towards Blockchain Interoperability

In recent years, distributed ledger technologies like blockchains have gained much popularity both within industry and research. Today, blockchains do not only act as the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but have also been identified as a potentially disruptive technology in many different fields, e.g., supply chain tracking and healthcare. The widespread attention for blockchains has led to manifold research and development activities. As a result, today's blockchain landscape is heavily fragmented, with different, incompatible technologies being available to potential users. Since interoperability between different blockchains is usually not foreseen in existing protocols and standards, functionalities like sending tokens from one participant to another, or invoking and executing smart contracts can only be carried out within a single blockchain. In this paper, we discuss the need for blockchain interoperability and how it could help to stimulate a paradigm shift from today's closed blockchains to an open system where devices and users can interact with each other across the boundaries of blockchains. For this, we consider the areas of cross-blockchain token transfers, as well as cross-blockchain smart contract invocation and interaction

What Key Aspects Do ICOs Reveal About Their Businesses?

Blockchain technologies disrupt industries by enabling decentralized and transactional data sharing across a network of untrusted participants, among others. Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are a novel form of crowdfunding through which hundreds of blockchain-enabled businesses manage to raise billions of dollars in total only in United States. However, there is a lack of understanding of the ICO phenomenon especially related to the business aspects. In this paper, we describe the results of an exploratory study of 91 ICOs and identify the key business model elements that ICOs reveal in their websites and whitepapers. Furthermore, we also note the immaturity and lack of transparency of the business aspects of businesses behind the ICO campaigns.peerReviewe