Blockchain Governance - A Systematic Literature Review

The blockchain technology offers the possibility to decentralize platforms besides a variety of other possibilities. This may even result in the absence of a central authority that defines its governance. Consequently, a special kind of governance can emerge that takes into account the specifics of this technology. While governance in various research areas, such as corporate or IT governance, has been studied for a long time, the study of blockchain governance has only recently begun. Nevertheless, research on blockchain governance is increasing in recent years and an appropriate way to structure it is needed. Hence, the goal of this study is to identify the current state of research on blockchain governance. For this purpose, a systematic literature review is conducted and as a result, 25 studies were identified which address blockchain governance. Moreover, an adapted version of the IT governance cube is introduced, which allowed to structure the concepts of blockchain governance. Furthermore, it allowed to identify research areas that have obtained little attention yet.