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Top1. Introduction
Blockchain (BC) is one of the innovations that has received heightened attention in the last few decades (Khalfan et al., 2022). BC has emerged as one of the most innovative technologies, gaining considerable interest from industry and academics. Blockchain technologies are a subset of the larger family of distributed ledger technologies, to which they add a number of characteristics typical of other technologies and solutions (Faccia & Petratos, 2021). BC is currently being used in a range of disciplines for study in academia and industry throughout the world (Mahdi, H. M. & Maaruf, 2019). Initially established in 2008 as part of Bitcoin's basic infrastructure (Nakamoto, 2008), the topic of whether BC adoption would result in the replacement of existing technologies is still up for contention. Governments in both developed and developing nations have adopted this innovation in an effort to enhance the quality of public service, expand public access to information, and encourage more participation in civic affairs (Asare & Prempeh, 2017). Government procurement is a fundamental activity that encourages economic growth and development (Akaba et al., 2020). E-procurement a proponent of this innovation has become one of the most recognized procurement subjects and without a doubt, it will significantly alter the purchasing process in the near future (Asare & Prempeh, 2017). Research on the application of blockchain principles in procurement has been conducted in a variety of countries, including Sri Lanka (Gunasekara & Sridarran, 2021), India(Rane, 2021), the Netherlands and Belgium (Komdeur & Ingenbleek, 2021), Bangladesh (Khalfan et al., 2022), the Philippines (Thio-ac, Domingo, et al., 2019), the United Arab Emirates (Omar et al., 2021) china (Guo et al., 2021) and in US (Chen et al., 2022). Many scholars in Africa have investigated the topic of BC adoption in procurement (e-procurement), including Akaba et al., (2020) in Nigeria and a number of other researchers in Ghana (Adjei-bamfo et al., 2020; Asare & Prempeh, 2017; Safowaa Osei Tutu, Ernest Kissi, 2019; Suzzy Krist, 2019). Based on the empirical literature cited thus far on BC adoption, it was evident that researchers in Ghana have focused on technology adoption in the domain of e-procurement. The studies Handoko & Lantu, (2021) and Addy et al., (2022), which used the UTAUT2 model for BC acceptance by auditors and construction professionals respectively, are the most relevant to this topic. The current research lacks an application of the UTUAT2 theoretical framework to understand the broad BC adoption factors, notably in state-owned institutions in Ghana. To address this specific theoretical and empirical gap, we pose the following overarching question: “What factors influence the behavioral intention of state-owned firms to adopt BC in public procurement delivery?”