Cheng, M.; Chong, H. Y.; Xu, Y.; Chi, M. and Liu, G. (2026) Dynamic interplay for blockchain-smart contracts (sc) adoption among government, private owners and general contractors across stages of contract development. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 33(7), pp. 5445-5468. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose – Despite the well-documented benefits of blockchain-smart contracts (SC), the effective adoption among the coordination of key stakeholders remains unclear. Limited studies have considered the perspective from complex interactions of key stakeholders for different stages of contract development during the SC adoption process. Therefore, this research developed a tripartite evolutionary game model to analyze the dynamic interplay among government, private owners and general contractors for SC adoption across contract development stages. Design/methodology/approach – Resorting to evolutionary game theory, this study develops a theoretical model grounded on the strategic interactions between government and construction stakeholders from the different sectors, whose co-evolving choices influence (and are influenced by) different SC policies. Key factors were numerically modeled their decision-making for each contract stage. This study further examines incentive subsidies, supervision costs and penalties for the key stakeholders. Findings – The results reveal the choice of SC adoption strategy is influenced by the different interactive behaviors of participants across contract development stages, revealing a complex interplay where the likelihood of private owners' development strategies inversely affects government promotion and positively influences general contractors' application of SC. Originality/value – The research contributes to the effective adoption of SC through clarifying key stakeholders' interactions from the perspectives of distinct evolutionary stages in contract development and government interventions in the decision-making process.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | blockchain-based smart contracts; contract development; evolutionary game theory; stakeholders; technology adoption |
| Index terms: | coordination, blockchain, promotion, technology adoption, smart contract, subsidy, decision-making process, penalty, decision-making, supervision, strategy, methodology, owner, evolutionary game, general contractor, interaction |
| Subjects: | economic theory, economic analysis, innovation and technology management, computing systems, practitioner, behavioral psychology, research methods, control systems, management, regulatory law, sociology, decision analysis, digital technology |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Project Management, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Legal Issues, Human Resources, Organizational Design, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here