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Challenges in adopting blockchain technology in supply chain management: a too far fetched idea?

Rohit Raj (Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan)
Arpit Singh (Department of Information Systems and Analytics, Jindal Global Business School, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India)
Vimal Kumar (Department of Information Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan)
Pratima Verma (Department of Strategic Management, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Kozhikode, India)

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

ISSN: 0265-671X

Article publication date: 14 May 2024

Issue publication date: 10 September 2024

232

Abstract

Purpose

Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.

Design/methodology/approach

This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).

Findings

The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.

Originality/value

Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers, Associate Editor and Editor-in-Chief for their valuable comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript.

Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Citation

Raj, R., Singh, A., Kumar, V. and Verma, P. (2024), "Challenges in adopting blockchain technology in supply chain management: a too far fetched idea?", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 41 No. 8, pp. 2146-2180. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-12-2022-0366

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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