Blockchain adoption in the supply chain: an appraisal on challenges

Abstract

PurposeAdoption of blockchain technology (BT) leads to shrinking supply chains, produces a better quality product, saves product development time and increases the customized offering to the customer. Since it is a new and growing area of research, researchers and practitioners are not entirely aware of challenges in the adoption of BT in supply chain (SC). Therefore, the objective of this research is to provide an overview of BT in SC and modeling of challenges in the adoption of BT in SC.Design/methodology/approachInterpretive structural modeling (ISM) is used to model the challenges of adoption of BT in SC. Challenges are identified by the literature review and verified by expert's opinions.FindingsThis study presents some key challenges, i.e. to develop trust within SC management system, obey the governance rules and regulations of institution while implementation of BT in SC, provide transparency of data, obtain tamperproof data to avoid fraud, improve coordination and information sharing among the SC partners, choose a profit-earning product SC for adoption of BT, adopt societal changes and train the participants to strengthen behavioral intention towards adoption of BT in SC. Additionally, interrelationships among the challenges have been identified. This work discusses potential implications based on challenges and provides a platform for the adoption of BT in SC.Originality/valueThe interrelations of the challenges will provide valuable understandings for developing BT solutions in SC to the practitioners.