Assessing Value Co-Creation in Blockchain Enabled Learning Certificates: A Knowledge Management Perspective

Abstract

Blockchain enabled learning certificates promise immutable, transparent proof of skills and achievements, yet their potential for sustained value co - creation remains underexplored. Grounded in Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model, Service-Dominant Logic, and the Co-Creation Triad, this position paper advances an integrative analytical model to evaluate how blockchain credentials instantiate knowledge‐conversion processes, operant resource integration, and stakeholder engagement structures. A dual‐stream methodology first maps construct from 50 prior studies to these lenses - revealing a research landscape heavily focused on technical architectures but largely neglectful of on-chain Socialization, Internalization, and ongoing co-creation incentives. We then apply our model to four illustrative platforms (LearnCoin, Blockcerts, Badgr, and the Learning Economy Foundation), systematically coding each system’s support for explicit knowledge externalization/combination, smart-contract-driven workflows, and dialogic customization. Our cross-case analysis confirms universal strengths in artifact codification and protocol automation but identifies persistent gaps in reflective learning cycles and sustained co-creation mechanisms. We conclude by calling for next‐ generation credential designs that embed on-chain communities of practice, adaptive operant resources, and multi-phase token economies, thereby charting a research and design roadmap for transforming blockchain certificates into living ecosystems of shared learning value