Opportunities and Challenges of Decentralization in the Blockchain Age

The advent of blockchain technology has ushered in a new era of decentralization. These efforts have promised to enhance transparency, inclusion, and democracy, ultimately leading to a fairer distribution of created value. In recent years, a dynamic community of scholars has begun investigating these experimental efforts to unravel the opportunities and challenges presented by blockchain-enabled decentralization. Existing research indicates that achieving and sustaining the promises of blockchain-based decentralization is often challenging, seldom leading to the envisioned paradigm shift. However, this research is currently scattered across different fields, theoretical perspectives, and technological levels. This has resulted in ambiguities regarding the conceptualization of decentralization and has impeded scientific progress. Therefore, we believe there is a need to bring together leading scholars with diverse research foci and methodological expertise to discuss and provide direction on how this new form of technology-based decentralization has shaped and will continue to shape management theory. This panel symposium aims to provide a forum for elaborating on the nature of blockchain-enabled decentralization, debating the associated opportunities and challenges, and identifying areas of interest for future research. In a facilitated discussion, we will raise these questions and provide ample opportunities for participants to learn from their peers, contributing to the advancement of leading management research on blockchain-enabled decentralization.