A Conceptual Blockchain Enhanced Information Model of Product Service Systems Framework for Sustainable Furniture

Abstract

The sustainable development of the furniture industry is experiencing the challenges of energy consumption and waste disposal. Product–service systems (PSSs) have the potential to promote sustainable development and the opportunity to transition to a circular economy (CE). PSSs can bring a series of benefits to sustainable furniture, but there are still some problems to be considered, such as the safe storage and transmission of information and data and the protection of stakeholders’ rights and interests. With digitization becoming a major trend, emerging digital technologies such as blockchain (BC) are proving to have the potential to solve related problems. Therefore, this paper aims to integrate the potential roles of BC and PSSs in the lifecycle of sustainable furniture. This paper adopts a mixed quantitative and qualitative research method. Firstly, the potential relationship among furniture, PSSs, and BC was quantitatively analyzed by VOSviewer. Secondly, this paper qualitatively analyzes the lifecycle stages of sustainable furniture, the advantages of PSSs to promote sustainable furniture, and the potential of BC to enhance the PSSs information model (IM) to further promote sustainable furniture to address related challenges. Subsequently, the conceptual BC-enhanced PSSs IM (BC-PSSs) framework was constructed, which contains the high-level and the low-level of structure and process, and then reviewed and refined through pre-interview questionnaires and follow-up interviews by industry experts and scholars. In addition, discussing the contribution of the conceptual BC-PSSs framework in sustainable furniture, and the potential of BC-PSSs in quantifying design value, encouraging designers to contribute value, and exploring the potential role of BC-PSSs in supporting sustainable consumer behavior. It is the first attempt to construct a conceptual BC-enhanced PSSs IM framework for sustainable furniture from the perspective of lifecycle stages, which can serve as a reference for researchers and policymakers in relevant directions to support sustainable development, in particular contributing to the achievement of SDGs 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).