Dr Ikram Nur Muharam


Postgraduate Research Student
M.Par, MSc.

Academic and research departments

Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management.

About

My research project

Affiliations and memberships

Member
The International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)

Research

Research interests

Publications

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Tussyadiah, Albert Nsom Kimbu (2024)Unlocking the Potential of Blockchain-based Sharing Economy in Hospitality and Tourism: A Systematic Review, In: International journal of hospitality management103863 Elsevier Ltd

This systematic review is a trailblazer for the blockchain-based sharing economy concept, mainly for hospitality and tourism. It highlights the potential integration of blockchain across sharing economy sectors (e.g., accommodation, transportation, and business services). Following the PRISMA protocol, 43 publications from 12 scholarly databases were analysed. It identifies different types of implementations, including decentralised apps and specific functionalities that utilise blockchain. Key issues are discussed, including contradictory aspects (transparency vs privacy, centralisation within decentralisation, and users' euphoria vs technical barriers) and advantages (increased security, automated sharing mechanisms, and user participation). The review offers practical implementation paths for blockchain-based sharing economy systems in hospitality and tourism, emphasising the importance of context, scope limitation, focusing on increasing advantages, and managing technological trade-offs. It also suggests critical future research topics and action agendas for hospitality and tourism stakeholders. •Knowledge synthesises of hospitality and tourism blockchain-based sharing economy.•A comprehensive review of 43 scholarly blockchain-based sharing economy articles.•Issues and use cases of hospitality and tourism blockchain-based sharing economy.•Benefits and challenges of blockchain in hospitality and tourism sharing economy.•Implementation framework of the blockchain-based sharing economy is proposed.

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Patimah Tussyadiah, Albert Nsom Kimbu (2023)A theoretical model of user acceptance of blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation, In: Current Issues in Tourism Routledge

Blockchain could disrupt traditional accommodation services by enabling safe, decentralised direct connections between guests and hosts. However, how users will accept and use blockchain-based services in tourism and hospitality remains unascertained. This study explores users’ perceptions of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system and sets a theoretical basis to conceptualise the drivers of the acceptability of such system. By using a grounded theory approach involving theoretical sampling and three steps of coding and constant comparison procedures, this study revealed that users were drawn to the system because it delivers desirable characteristics that are absent from existing services, such as further reduction of transaction fees, instant transaction settlement, wider income distribution, data integrity, algorithm autonomy, and smart protocol. Personal and social contexts were also found to influence users’ preferences for blockchain type and system ownership models. By offering key predictors and a theoretical model of user acceptance of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system, hence taking a bottom-up approach to complement the highly top-down extant literature, this paper allows stakeholders exploring the use of blockchain technology in the tourism and hospitality sectors to have a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Patimah Tussyadiah (2023)The Effect of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Cryptocurrency Use on Changes in the Transaction Utility of International Tourists, In: Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2023 - Proceedings of the ENTER 2023 eTourism Conference, January 18-20, 2023 Springer

This study investigates how exposure to local prices changes the transaction utility of international tourists, and the role of purchasing power parity (PPP) and the use of cryptocurrency in these changes. Findings indicate that tourists’ transaction utility did not vary all that much when they visited a country with comparable PPP to their own. Meanwhile, when traveling to countries with a lower PPP, tourists enjoy a heightened transaction utility. Furthermore, using Bitcoin results in greater transaction utility than using fiat currency.

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Patimah Tussyadiah, Albert Nsom Kimbu (2024)Decentralising Airbnb: Testing the acceptability of blockchain-based sharing economy systems, In: Tourism Management102104871 Elsevier

This study employs a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach to investigate users' perspectives and acceptability of blockchain-based sharing economy systems. The suggested model explains how users' perceptions of specific features of such concepts influence acceptance in ways that existing theories like TPB, TAM, or UTAUT cannot. The results revealed that user empowerment was the most significant factor influencing acceptance. Furthermore, multigroup analysis (MGA) demonstrates how different contexts have distinct acceptance predictors. Depending on the context, perceived lower fees, perceived faster settlement, perceived income distribution, perceived fraudproof, and perceived traceability had varying significance. Meanwhile, perceived immutability, perceived process automation, and perceived transparency, even though considered appealing, were not significant in influencing acceptance. The findings imply that stakeholders should balance technicality and behavioural aspects, and be aware of the context.