Blockchain technology awareness on social media: Insights from twitter analytics

Abstract Purpose This study investigates the affective technology acceptance model applied to the case of blockchain through Twitter text mining. Design/methodology/approach The analysis focuses on mapping the acceptance drivers of the blockchain technology by visualizing the users perception constructs through Blockchain hashtags. More than 5000 relevant tweets per day were collected between December 15, 2020, and January 15, 2021. The Kruskal-Wallis and the Mann-Whitney tests were applied over the frequency of the characteristics and the emotions' measurements to validate the research hypotheses. Findings The results prove that users show more interest in security, shareability, and decentralization characteristics. Therefore, the blockchain technology usefulness is rather perceived in the informational domain, and the blockchain ease of use is further expressed in smart contracts as a use case. Blockchain benefits are more discussed than the drawbacks among Twitter users. Besides, positive feelings with strong emotions of trust and joy dominate among users. In summary, the results show significant awareness of users towards blockchain technology. Originality To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first study that explores the affective technology acceptance model with user-generated content analysis.