Table 1 Summary of the hypotheses... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Summary of the hypotheses underlying the study

Hypothesis	Main arguments	Theoretical lens	Supporting references
H1: The adoption of BT leads to improved sales performance	• BT enables the development of reputation systems for evaluating business partners, streamlining the supplier selection and vetting process • BT allows individuals to check product provenance, authenticity, and quality, potentially influencing consumer choices and supporting higher pricing strategies	Transaction cost economics	Hong and Hales (2021), Lumineu et al. (2021), Danese et al. (2021), Moretto and Macchion (2022)
H2: The adoption of BT leads to improved labor productivity	• BT automates tasks and reduces the need for traditional communication methods, freeing up time and resources to be deployed elsewhere • BT decreases the time spent reconciling data and waiting for approvals, leading to more informed decision making and lower error-related costs	Transaction cost economics	Malhotra et al. (2022), Lumineau et al. (2021), Sauer et al. (2022), Roeck et al. (2020)
H3: The adoption of BT leads to improved operating cycle time	• BT minimizes environmental and behavioral uncertainty, reducing the need for buffer resources and accelerating operations • BT enhances financial flows by connecting buyers, suppliers, and banks on a distributed ledger, reducing the need for manual verification and speeding up payments	Transaction cost economics	Babich and Hilary (2020), Nandi et al. (2020), Chod et al. (2020), Wang et al. (2019)
H4: The adoption of BT leads to improved firm profitability	• BT decreases costs along all the phases of a transaction: ex-ante (strengthened visibility and transparency), negotiation (easier contract registration and fewer payment withholding issues), and ex-post (lower activities adjustment effort) • BT improves sales performance (H1)	Transaction cost economics	Chod et al. (2020), Kopyto et al. (2020), Enrique et al. (2022), Gong et al. (2022)
H5: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the regulation intensity of the industry	• BT enhances regulatory compliance by streamlining data handling and reducing paperwork through automated processes • BT adopters may be subject to implementation challenges in terms of industry-specific regulatory alignment	Contingency theory	Ghadge et al. (2022), Peng et al. (2022), van Hoek (2019), Hastig and Sodhi (2020)
H6: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the competition intensity of the industry	• High levels of competition are often associated with enhanced operational performance when firms adopt information technologies like BT. • BT benefits are linked to network effects; less competitive environments allow dominant firms to influence and expand BT adoption among business partners	Contingency theory	Raguseo et al. (2020), Hartley et al. (2022), Mathivathanan et al. (2021), Schmidt and Wagner (2019)
H7: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the position along the SC of the implementing firm	• Downstream companies benefit from BT in terms of monitoring and control activities, reducing costs, and information asymmetries • Upstream companies benefit from BT with regard to bullwhip effect mitigation	Contingency theory	Li et al. (2022), Rogerson and Parry (2020), Roeck et al. (2020), Babich and Hilary (2020)

Hypothesis	Main arguments	Theoretical lens	Supporting references
H1: The adoption of BT leads to improved sales performance	• BT enables the development of reputation systems for evaluating business partners, streamlining the supplier selection and vetting process • BT allows individuals to check product provenance, authenticity, and quality, potentially influencing consumer choices and supporting higher pricing strategies	Transaction cost economics	Hong and Hales (2021), Lumineu et al. (2021), Danese et al. (2021), Moretto and Macchion (2022)
H2: The adoption of BT leads to improved labor productivity	• BT automates tasks and reduces the need for traditional communication methods, freeing up time and resources to be deployed elsewhere • BT decreases the time spent reconciling data and waiting for approvals, leading to more informed decision making and lower error-related costs	Transaction cost economics	Malhotra et al. (2022), Lumineau et al. (2021), Sauer et al. (2022), Roeck et al. (2020)
H3: The adoption of BT leads to improved operating cycle time	• BT minimizes environmental and behavioral uncertainty, reducing the need for buffer resources and accelerating operations • BT enhances financial flows by connecting buyers, suppliers, and banks on a distributed ledger, reducing the need for manual verification and speeding up payments	Transaction cost economics	Babich and Hilary (2020), Nandi et al. (2020), Chod et al. (2020), Wang et al. (2019)
H4: The adoption of BT leads to improved firm profitability	• BT decreases costs along all the phases of a transaction: ex-ante (strengthened visibility and transparency), negotiation (easier contract registration and fewer payment withholding issues), and ex-post (lower activities adjustment effort) • BT improves sales performance (H1)	Transaction cost economics	Chod et al. (2020), Kopyto et al. (2020), Enrique et al. (2022), Gong et al. (2022)
H5: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the regulation intensity of the industry	• BT enhances regulatory compliance by streamlining data handling and reducing paperwork through automated processes • BT adopters may be subject to implementation challenges in terms of industry-specific regulatory alignment	Contingency theory	Ghadge et al. (2022), Peng et al. (2022), van Hoek (2019), Hastig and Sodhi (2020)
H6: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the competition intensity of the industry	• High levels of competition are often associated with enhanced operational performance when firms adopt information technologies like BT. • BT benefits are linked to network effects; less competitive environments allow dominant firms to influence and expand BT adoption among business partners	Contingency theory	Raguseo et al. (2020), Hartley et al. (2022), Mathivathanan et al. (2021), Schmidt and Wagner (2019)
H7: The effect of BT adoption on operational performance is affected by the position along the SC of the implementing firm	• Downstream companies benefit from BT in terms of monitoring and control activities, reducing costs, and information asymmetries • Upstream companies benefit from BT with regard to bullwhip effect mitigation	Contingency theory	Li et al. (2022), Rogerson and Parry (2020), Roeck et al. (2020), Babich and Hilary (2020)

Source(s): Author’s own creation