Digital skills recruitment challenges in small enterprises: the role of blockchain

Abstract

Industry reports estimate blockchain can potentially generate around $3.1 trillion in new businesses by 2030. These latest digital technologies present more opportunities for all sizes of enterprises to grow. However, they also create new challenges for the small enterprises in adopting such technologies for their individual business needs. While the growth of digital technologies and their impact is explicit, it is also evidenced that small enterprises struggle to recruit and train the digital skills required to effectively use these innovations. This study conducted a literature survey to analyse how blockchain can contribute to small enterprises benefits. Based on the blockchain social ecosystems’ analysis, this study proposes a National Digital Skills Recruitment Chains (NDSRC) model that explicates how blockchain characteristics (digital trust, data immutability, privacy, and security) can play a role in addressing the digital skills recruitment challenges in small enterprises.