AUTHOR=Mulligan C. , Godsiff P. , Brunelle A. 

TITLE=Boundary Spanning in a Digital World: The Case of Blockchain

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Blockchain

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/blockchain/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2020.00037

DOI=10.3389/fbloc.2020.00037

ISSN=2624-7852

ABSTRACT=Blockchain is a relatively new technology that is often described as “creating trust” or “removing intermediaries”.  In this paper, we posit that blockchain is a new form of digitally-enabled boundary spanning that allows co-ownership models for the companies in question.  Where companies have traditionally employed humans to act as interfaces to the external world, new digital technologies enable a digitised approach to many corporate operations that require interaction towards the external market and environment within which firms must operate.  Blockchain is a special subset of digital technologies in this regard, enabling companies to co-operate to control parts of the market and to internalise transaction costs that until now have been a market function; using blockchain companies effectively create a new transaction boundary that means boundary spanning can be deeply embedded in core business, rather than kept to its periphery.  This digitally-enabled boundary spanning is a key attribute of the emerging digital economy.  Understanding its implications is of critical importance for economics, business and social science literature.