Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 6-6-2018 10:30 AM The Rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Coordination and Growth within Cryptocurrencies Ying-Ying Hsieh The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Vergne, Jean-Philippe The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Business A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Ying-Ying Hsieh 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons Recommended Citation Hsieh, Ying-Ying, "The Rise of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Coordination and Growth within Cryptocurrencies" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5393. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5393 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin is driving a paradigm shift in organization design. Their underlying blockchain technology enables a novel form of organizing, which I call the “decentralized autonomous organization” (DAO). This study explores how tasks are coordinated within DAOs that provide decentralized and open payment systems that do not rely on centralized intermediaries (e.g., banks). Guided by a Bitcoin pilot case study followed by a three-stage research design that uses both qualitative and quantitative data, this inductive study examines twenty DAOs in the cryptocurrency industry to address the following question: How are DAOs coordinated to enable growth? Results from the pilot study suggest that task coordination within DAOs is enabled by distributed consensus mechanisms at various levels. Further, findings from interview data reveal that DAOs coordinate tasks through “machine consensus” and “social consensus” mechanisms that operate at varying degrees of decentralization. Subsequent fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fsQCA), explaining when DAOs grow or decline, show that social consensus mechanisms can partially substitute machine consensus mechanisms in less decentralized DAOs. Taken together, the results unpack how DAO growth relies on the interplay between machine consensus, social consensus, and decentralization mechanisms. To conclude, I formulate three propositions to outline a theory of DAO coordination and discuss how this novel form of organizing calls for a revision of our conventional understanding of task coordination and organizational growth. Keywords Task Coordination, Organizational Growth, Decentralized Autonomous Organization, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, fsQCA. i Acknowledgments Participating in Ivey’s PhD program has been an exciting and inspiring intellectual experience. I have been extremely fortunate to witness and work on the intriguing blockchain innovation at the forefront of the FinTech revolution. Writing a dissertation on Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space was a bold decision to make with lots of experimentations, especially in the early days when the industry was mainly associated with shady images. The completion of this dissertation and of my PhD was an intellectual adventure that would not have been possible without the support of many important people. I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Jean-Philippe Vergne, the perfect scholar to work with on this difficult phenomenon. He showed me how an academic can attend to both creativity and rigor. On the one hand, he is ambidextrous while navigating the research landscape; on the other hand, he stays laser-focused working on a specific problem. He encouraged me to think about transcending the boundaries of management theory by challenging the underlying assumptions. As a scholar, Dr. Vergne sets very high academic standards for his students. As a mentor, he is always there to provide clear guidance and timely feedback. He gives his students top priority and is always the first to celebrate their achievements and provide honest feedback when they need improvement. I would also like to thank my thesis supervisory committee, comprised of Prof. Tima Bansal, Prof. Claus Rerup, and Prof. Michael King. They played an important role in shaping the early stages of my work by providing valuable and constructive feedback that helped me build my dissertation on a solid foundation. I will never forget Prof. Bansal’s advice that a PhD dissertation should aspire to top-journal quality. She has always provided excellent advice on how to craft qualitative research in a way that is both insightful and sophisticated. I also learned a great deal from Prof. Rerup about how to formulate my research by asking the right questions and by sitting in the reader’s chair. He is a serious scholar who thinks deeply about the nature of phenomena and attends to the rich details that shed new light on the research question. Finally, I benefited immensely from Prof. King’s expertise in finance and FinTech. He has helped me connect my work with the real world and to make it relevant. I feel privileged to have had these leading scholars on my committee. ii I also would like to thank the members of my examination committee who took the time to be part of the developmental process of my dissertation. I am fortunate to have Prof. Tima Bansal from the Ivey thesis supervisory committee, Prof. Diane-Laure Arjalies from Ivey, Prof. Aleksander Essex from the Computer Science Department of Western University, and Prof. Phanish Puranam from INSEAD as the external examiner on the committee. I benefited tremendously from their comments and insights which help me move forward not only this dissertation but my broader research ideas. I would like to thank the Ivey PhD program for its financial and research support. The faculty and staff at the PhD program office have provided an enriching environment and have equipped me with the necessary skillsets for a future academic career. I am also indebted to the Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at Ivey, which provided me with the opportunity to work as a research fellow conducting FinTech-related research. My participation in the First Annual Toronto FinTech Conference would not have been possible without the tremendous support of the Lab. Chairing the conference was an invaluable learning experience, which will inform my research and teaching as a junior faculty member in the years to come. I also owe a big thank you to all of the Ivey and non-Ivey friends I met over the course of the last five years. Your friendship has brightened up my doctoral studies, and your support has been a strong force driving me forward. Finally, this journey could not have begun without the support of my family. My parents have always been my strongest supporters and biggest fans. I would like to thank them for looking after my children while I pursued my studies. Big thanks are due also to my husband, TC, who put his academic career as a tenure track faculty member in Taiwan on hold to support me in my dream. And most of all, I am grateful to my wonderful children, Lillian and Yong, who have been patient while I was busy, cheered me when I was down, and inspired me when we learnt together. You are my sources of power and motivation. You are the best gift I have from God. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Appendices .............................................................................................................. x Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Dissertation Structure.............................................................................................. 4 Chapter 2 The Context: It All Begins with Bitcoin ............................................................ 6 2 The Context: It All Begins with Bitcoin ........................................................................ 6 2.1 What is Bitcoin? ...................................................................................................... 6 2.2 How Does Bitcoin Work ? .................................................................................... 10 2.3 Protocol Update .................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Bitcoin as the First Decentralized Autonomous Organization ............................. 13 2.5 Cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin ......................................................................... 14 2.6 Other Unique Features of Cryptocurrencies ........................................................