Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Kristina A. Hesbol

Second Advisor

Shimelis Assefa

Third Advisor

Erin Anderson

Fourth Advisor

Jayson Richardson

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Blockchain, Government document, Higher education, Innovation system

Abstract

Blockchain technologies have attracted growing attention as an evolution of digital recordkeeping, prompting interest in higher education governance, credentialing, and data management. Yet, no systematic analysis exists on how U.S. government blockchain documents define institutional roles and governance authority within higher education institutions. As the national blockchain innovation system expands through governance infrastructure, the inclusion of higher education institutions as governing actors is imperative for coherent and equitable deployment. This qualitative study examines what roles the U.S. government blockchain documents assign to higher education institutions within the national blockchain innovation system.

Using innovation systems theory, particularly the triple-helix model of university-industry-government relations, the present study analyzed government documents through four sequential rounds of deductive NVivo coding guided by a government document analysis framework (Bowen, 2009; Etzkowitz, 2003). The study examined 31 federal and state government documents (N = 31) published between 2018 and 2026, producing 247 total coded HEI-role references (n = 247). Across 247 coded HEI-role references distributed across the 31-document corpus, only 39 (15.8%) assigned governance authority to higher education institutions. The remaining 84.2% positioned them as workforce developers, research contributors, and advisory participants within systems governed by state agencies and industry actors. All four federal documents assigned zero governance authority. As policy shifted from exploratory to legislative, governance authority assigned to higher education institutions contracted rather than expanded. These findings demonstrate that U.S. government blockchain documents assign higher education institutions roles of visibility without authority. The governance frameworks taking shape across federal and state contexts assigned authority primarily to industry actors and government agencies, leaving higher education institutions in contributing roles without governing power over the systems they were expected to support.

Copyright Date

6-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Clarissa Terracciano

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

203 pgs

File Size

1.5 MB

Download



Share

COinS