Explaining decentralisation in enterprise blockchain governance: The imprint of platform openness and participant inclusiveness

Authors

Christophe Viguerie, College of Business, Management Department, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Raffaele F. Ciriello, The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Liudmila Zavolokina, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Information Systems, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Lars Mathiassen, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, US

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

While blockchain technologies are widely portrayed as a decentralising force, enterprise blockchains tend to reproduce centralised governance structures. To explain this paradox, we conducted a deductive, explanatory, multi-case study of four enterprise blockchains during their formative stage: Walmart DL Freight, Contour, Chronicled MediLedger, and Car- dossier. We examine how variations in platform openness (the breadth of access to governance arenas) and participant inclusiveness (the depth of stakeholder influence on governance decisions) shape decentralisation trajectories as imprinting mechanisms: formative conditions that embed power asymmetries into sociotechnical infrastructures, constraining sub- sequent governance evolution. Empirically, we find that high openness and high inclusiveness supported decentralisation, low levels of both reinforced centralisation, and asymmetric configurations resulted in hybrid, semi-decentralised ar- rangements. Theoretically, we contribute a variance model that explains how early governance configurations shape decentralisation trajectories in enterprise blockchains. These contributions have practical implications for organisations designing blockchain governance: formative decisions around openness and inclusiveness can cast long institutional shadows, making early strategic alignment critical for realising blockchain’s decentralisation potential

DOI

10.1177/02683962261422482

Recommended Citation

Viguerie, Christophe; Ciriello, Raffaele F.; Zavolokina, Liudmila; and Mathiassen, Lars (2026) "Explaining decentralisation in enterprise blockchain governance: The imprint of platform openness and participant inclusiveness," Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 41: Iss. 1, Article 4.
DOI: 10.1177/02683962261422482
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jit/vol41/iss1/4