Blockchain looks less risky to SMEs already using AI

Small and medium-sized e-commerce firms may be more willing to explore blockchain when they already have hands-on experience with artificial intelligence tools (AI), which appears to make the technology’s benefits easier to see and its risks feel more manageable, according to a new study published in Systems.

The study, Digital Readiness and Blockchain Adoption in E-Commerce SMEs: A Configurational Analysis of Perceived Benefits and Costs, examines survey data from 548 Chinese e-commerce SMEs and finds that firms familiar with AI are more likely to see blockchain as useful for transparency, security, efficiency and supply-chain accountability, while also reporting lower concern about technical, data and vendor-related risks.

AI familiarity reshapes how firms judge blockchain

Blockchain's key value lies in making transactions more transparent, traceable and harder to alter. For e-commerce firms, these features can be crucial in areas such as payment verification, product authentication, supply-chain tracking and cross-border transactions. However, adoption among SMEs remains uneven. Smaller firms often face tighter budgets, weaker technical capacity and greater concern about implementation risk.

Blockchain can look attractive on paper, but difficult in real settings. The technology may require new skills, system integration, data governance changes and coordination with suppliers, vendors or platform partners. This is why blockchain adoption should not be treated as a simple yes-or-no response to one factor, the study states.

SMEs do not decide only because blockchain appears useful or only because it appears costly. They weigh both sides together. Adoption intention emerges from a broader internal evaluation shaped by digital readiness, perceived benefits and perceived costs. AI familiarity plays a key role in this process. Firms that have already used or discussed AI technologies appear more comfortable evaluating another complex digital system. Their prior exposure to AI can make blockchain seem less foreign, less risky and more connected to existing business needs.

AI familiarity does not necessarily mean that firms have advanced AI capability. Rather, it reflects whether AI is known, discussed and sometimes used in company operations. The exposure may help managers understand how data-driven tools work and how digital systems can support business decisions.

The findings show a strong link between AI familiarity and perceived blockchain benefits. Firms more familiar with AI were more likely to recognize blockchain’s potential to improve transaction transparency, operational efficiency, data security and supply-chain accountability. AI familiarity was also linked with lower perceived costs. Firms with more AI exposure were less likely to see blockchain adoption as limited by lack of skills, data security concerns, storage issues or vendor-related vulnerabilities. Practically, digital experience appears to reduce the fear factor around another emerging technology.

Benefits and costs pull adoption in opposite directions

The study confirms that perceived benefits and perceived costs move blockchain adoption intention in opposite directions. Firms that see more value in blockchain are more willing to adopt it whereas firms that see higher costs and risks are less willing.

When it comes to SMEs, managers may recognize blockchain’s promise, but still hesitate if they expect implementation to be expensive, technically demanding or disruptive to daily operations. For smaller firms, even a useful technology can be delayed if the cost of adoption appears too high.

The analysis shows that perceived benefits have a positive effect on adoption intention, while perceived costs have a negative effect. The study goes further by showing that AI familiarity influences adoption mostly through those evaluations. Simply put, AI familiarity does not only make firms more open to blockchain in a general sense, it changes the way they judge blockchain’s value and burden.

The indirect effect is important. AI familiarity increases perceived benefits and lowers perceived costs, and those shifts strongly shape whether a firm intends to adopt blockchain. This suggests that digital readiness is not only about having infrastructure or software. It also affects how decision-makers interpret new technologies.

According to the research, blockchain adoption is a structured evaluation process. A firm with stronger digital exposure may not simply become more enthusiastic about innovation. It may also become better at identifying where blockchain could solve real business problems and less likely to overestimate the difficulty of implementation.

For tech providers, this means sales and adoption strategies cannot rely only on promoting blockchain’s technical strengths. SMEs may need help understanding the technology in terms of business value, operational fit and manageable implementation steps. For policymakers, the findings suggest that blockchain adoption may depend partly on wider digital capability-building. Programs that improve AI familiarity, digital literacy and practical exposure to emerging technologies may indirectly make SMEs more willing to adopt blockchain.

Adoption rises when benefits clearly outweigh costs

The study analysed how perceived benefits and costs work together. The results show that adoption intention rises when firms perceive benefits and costs as both increasing together, but the strongest adoption conditions appear when benefits exceed costs, which means firms are not simply looking for a perfect balance. They are more likely to move toward blockchain when the expected value clearly dominates the expected burden.

Benefits carry more weight than costs. The positive influence of perceived benefits was stronger than the negative influence of perceived costs, suggesting that SMEs may be willing to tolerate some level of complexity or risk if they believe blockchain can deliver meaningful business gains.

Blockchain may involve real barriers, including technical skills, security questions and coordination challenges, but the study suggests that those barriers may not automatically block adoption when firms can clearly see strategic value. For e-commerce businesses, the most persuasive value signals may include better trust among transaction partners, improved transparency in supply chains, faster and more efficient transactions, and stronger accountability for goods moving through digital platforms.

Additionally, adoption does not appear to depend on complex threshold effects. The evaluation process was largely linear and practical. As benefits become more visible and costs are controlled, adoption intention strengthens, which points to a pragmatic decision style among SMEs rather than a highly complex adoption calculus.

Many SMEs operate under resource pressure. They may not have large technology teams or formal innovation departments. Their decisions often depend on whether the business case is clear enough and whether implementation risks look manageable.

The study suggests that blockchain adoption efforts should therefore focus on dual calibration. Firms need a clearer view of benefits and a credible plan for lowering perceived costs. Demonstrations, pilot projects, shared technical services and industry support networks could help shift that evaluation.

Implications and limitations 

The study suggests that building digital readiness through AI use can prepare firms for later blockchain decisions. Small pilots with AI tools, such as customer service chatbots, demand forecasting or recommendation systems, may help firms become more comfortable with data-driven technology.

Technical sophistication alone may not convince SMEs. Bloackchain providers need to make the business gains visible and reduce the perceived burden of adoption. This could mean offering phased implementation, platform integration support, vendor security guidance and clear examples of how blockchain can address real e-commerce problems.

For policymakers, the study suggests that blockchain support should not focus only on direct subsidies. Training programs, shared digital infrastructure, SME innovation clusters and practical exposure to AI may help firms develop the readiness needed to evaluate blockchain more favorably.

The research also found that the adoption mechanism remained broadly stable across firms serving domestic and foreign customers. Although internationally oriented firms often face stronger demands for traceability, verification and cross-border trust, the study did not find that customer orientation significantly changed the relationships among AI familiarity, perceived benefits, perceived costs and adoption intention.

The finding suggests that blockchain adoption among Chinese e-commerce SMEs may be shaped more by internal readiness and benefit-cost evaluation than by whether firms mainly serve domestic or foreign customers. Still, the researchers caution that the domestic and foreign categories may not capture all differences in international exposure.

The study has limitations:

• It is based on cross-sectional survey data, so it cannot show how firms’ adoption decisions change over time. Blockchain adoption is likely to evolve as firms gain experience, as digital infrastructure improves and as market pressure changes.
• The sample is also limited to Chinese e-commerce SMEs. China’s fast-moving platform economy, strong e-commerce base and active digital policy environment may differ from conditions in other countries. Future research could test whether the same patterns appear in other markets with different regulatory systems, infrastructure and SME capabilities.
• The measure of AI familiarity also captures practical exposure, not deep AI capability. Future studies could examine broader digital readiness, including IT governance, organizational learning, digital culture, workforce skills and prior use of other advanced technologies.
• The study also focuses mainly on perceived benefits and costs. Other factors may shape blockchain adoption, including ecosystem trust, regulatory legitimacy, interoperability, data sovereignty, cybersecurity exposure and dependence on digital platforms.