Blockchain technologies as enablers of supply chain mapping for sustainable supply chains

Abstract

The advent of blockchain technologies is transmuting the way conventional supply chains are being managed. Due to the complexity of dealing with many actors involved in the supply chain networks, contemporary supply chains have limited visibility, transparency, and accountability. Likewise, supply chains are increasingly facing the challenge of integration and sustainability. In this vein, blockchain technologies can play a groundbreaking role in improving the traceability, accountability, and sustainability of complex supply chain networks. The present study examines the instrumentality of blockchain technologies in enabling supply chain mapping and supply chain integration. The study also tests the direct impact of blockchain technologies on supply chain sustainability. Data are collected from 132 Malaysian Electrical and Electronics firms using a close-ended questionnaire. The study employs Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Partial Least Squares-Multi Group Analysis (PLS-MGA) for analyzing the hypothesized relationships. The resultsshow that blockchain technologies do not have a direct impact on supply chain sustainability. Nevertheless, this finding reveals a robust indirect effect of BT, through SC integration and SC mapping, on the SC sustainability. The study's findings imply that the notion of the sustainable supply chain can be significantly attained by mapping upstream, midstream, and downstream supply chains. The well-mapped supply chain can further improve supply chain sustainability. The findings of the study also suggest the adoption of blockchain technologies as a broad-based strategy to attain multi-tier goals, for example, supply chain mapping, sustainability, and integration.

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

“…It also explores phenomena such as resilience, sustainability, green, circular SC as the future application areas. The potential SC application areas for BT discussed in the literature are Food SC (Behnke & Janssen, 2020 ; Bumblauskas et al, 2020 ; Kittipanya-ngam & Tan, 2020 ; Liu et al, 2020 ; Vivaldini, 2021a ), Agricultural SC (Hu et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2020 ; Mishra & Maheshwari, 2021 ; Mukherjee et al, 2021 ), SC Risk Management (Choi et al, 2019 ; Manupati et al, 2022 ; Rauniyar et al, 2022 ; Shashi et al, 2020 ), Sustainable SC (Gong et al, 2022b ; Khan et al, 2022b ; Liu et al, 2021c ; Wang et al, 2022 ; Xia et al, 2021 ), etc. 65 studies fall under this heading as listen in Table 17 .…”

Blockchain Technology: The Role of Integrated Reverse Supply Chain Networks in Sustainability

“…According to Khan et al (2022), RSCN is a kind of supply chain with a focus on sustainability and reverse activities linked to a circular economy. Currently, supply chain actors are increasingly facing the challenge of integration and sustainability, but BCT can play a ground-breaking role in improving the traceability, accountability, and sustainability of complex supply chain networks (Nikolakis, John, and Krishnan 2018;Bai and Sarkis 2020).…”

“…In RSCNs, BCT can be used to improve sustainability performance with a focus on the reverse value chain. This requires that users have experience and knowledge of how the supply chain actors can be mapped, which is a big challenge for both practitioners and researchers (Khan et al 2022). The second challenge is that the supply chain actors need to face the growth of sustainability, which is closely connected to their visibility and traceability (Saberi et al 2019;Jraisat et al 2022b).…”

Blockchain for the environmentally sustainable enterprise

“…They typically have limited visibility, transparency, and accountability as a result of the complexity of dealing with many actors within the supply chain network contemporary. Study 3 —entitled “Blockchain technologies as enablers of supply chain mapping for sustainable supply chains” and authored by Khan et al (2022)—uses empirical data from 132 electrical and electronics firm respondents to a survey from Malaysia. They show that while no direct impact of BCT on supply chain sustainability exists within the sample, there is an indirect effect of BCT application through supply chain integration and supply chain mapping of upstream, midstream, and downstream supply chains.…”