Blockchain as the “trust-building machine” for supply chain management

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the impact of blockchain application on trust levels in supply chains. Through the systematic review of the relevant literature, three dimensions of trust, i.e., the trustor–trustee perspective, forms of trust, and time orientation, are investigated. Our findings show that, first, there are three pairs of trustors and trustees involved in blockchain implementation: (a) the user and the blockchain, (b) two supply chain partners, and (c) the consumer/public and a supply chain unit. Second, the two forms of trust, namely cognition-based and institution-based trust, are likely to be enhanced by blockchain execution, while affect-based trust may not be directly impacted by the technology. Third, the presence of blockchain technology would facilitate swift trust-building between unknown supply chain partners under specific circumstances. Moreover, we also find contradicting assertions among scholars on the implications of blockchain for trust in supply chains. While some studies pointed out that blockchain will enable a trustless trusted scheme, others expected the reinforcement of interorganizational trust. To test these assertions, we develop the blockchain-entrusted supply chain models to present the three-step process of how trust is developed through the blockchain and diffused to supply chain partners and external stakeholders.

Blockchain technology in supply chain management: an organizational theoretic overview and research agenda

“…In case of features, traceability, transparency, and trust are the most talked about ones. While traceability and transparency are usual suspects in case of food SC, trust happens to be the epitome of the BT enabled SC (Yavaprabhas et al, 2022 ).…”

“…We also see scope of utilising multiple or mixed methods to generate both qualitative as well as quantitative data to address these questions. Who: An important aspect of blockchain is that it brings those people into collaborative, trustworthy environment that are essentially strangers to build an interorganizational trust (Yavaprabhas et al, 2022 ). This has a huge potential for certain actors who seek enhanced cooperation, coordination and collaboration to solve crisis situations especially in case of humanitarian concerns that require swift-trust among the stakeholders (Dubey et al, 2020 ).…”

Blockchain technology adoption and supply chain resilience: exploring the role of transformational supply chain leadership

“…Real-time insights into operational processes such as inventory, production, logistics and transactions reduce uncertainty within the supply chain and enable prompt identification of disruptions when they occur (Nikookar and Yanadori, 2022;Sadeghi R. et al, 2023). Furthermore, the characteristics of blockchain strengthen trust and collaboration throughout the entire supply network, facilitating real-time information exchange, joint emergency planning and resource integration among supply chain members (Dubey et al, 2020;Yavaprabhas et al, 2023). These benefits of blockchain technology enhance a company's ability to withstand sudden supply chain risks, respond rapidly to disruptions and recover from such events (Manupati et al, 2022;Min, 2019).…”

Financing the Three-Tier Supply Chain: Advance Payment vs. Blockchain-Enabled Financing Mode

“…Financial constraint party Financing mode Kouvelis and Zhao [9] Two tiers Retailer Trade credit and bank loan Jing and Seidmann [10] Two tiers Retailer Trade credit and bank loan Tang et al [11] Two tiers Supplier Order fnancing and buyer-direct fnancing Kouvelis and Xu [12] Two tiers Supplier Reverse factoring Ding and Wan [14] Two tiers Supplier Advance payment and bank loan Huang [15] Two tiers Supplier Advance payment Deng et al [16] Two tiers Supplier Advance payment and bank loan Yan et al [17] Two tiers Supplier Advance payment Ding and Wan [14] Two tiers Supplier Advance payment and reverse factoring Kouvelis and Zhao [19] Two tiers Supplier and retailer Trade credit and bank loan Liu et al [27] Tree tiers Retailer Blockchain platform fnance Wang et al [28] Tree tiers Retailer Trade credit using blockchain Dong et al [4] Tree tiers Tier-2 supplier Blockchain-enabled fnancing mode Tis research Tree tiers Tier-2 supplier Advance payment and blockchain-enabled fnancing mode Transmission-fee rate for the electronic certifcate in B mode Decision variables q Te farmer's planting area ω Te price at which the acquirer buys the product from the farmer ψ Te price at which the core enterprise buys the product from the acquirer (5) Te proft of each party is represented by π i , i � F, S, R, and the subscripts F, S, and R, respectively, represent the farmer, the acquirer, and the core enterprise. (6) We assume that the acquirer's discount rate for advance payment is r A and the risk-free rate is r E , which can be viewed as the acquirer's bank fnancing capability and r A > r E . (7) We assume that the interest rate on the farmer's bank loan in B mode is r B .…”

“…Blockchain technology ofers novel solutions to the issues above [5][6][7][8]. In recent years, the government has provided numerous subsidies to encourage frms' adoption of blockchain technology.…”