IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i12p5174-d1417085.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Critical Literature Review on Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chains

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Wong

    (Division of Science, Engineering and Health Studies, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

  • John Kun Woon Yeung

    (Data Science Academy, Hong Kong, China)

  • Yui-Yip Lau

    (Division of Business and Hospitality Management, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China)

  • Tomoya Kawasaki

    (Department of Systems Innovation, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan)

  • Raymond Kwong

    (Department of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, China)

Abstract

Inspired by the discontinuation of the blockchain platform TradeLens, co-developed by IBM and Maersk, due to the lack of the involved supply chain stakeholders’ adoption, a critical literature review on the models of supply chain stakeholders’ adoption of blockchain applications was conducted. This review is significant as it provides insights into the exploration of a more universal approach to investigate which factors really influence blockchain adoption, which is a pre-requisite for the technical sustainability of blockchain technology in supply chains. As observed in the review, the technology acceptance model (TAM), the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) are frequently used in the literature, but little attention has been paid to whether blockchain technology fits the users’ tasks in understanding blockchain adoption in the supply chain. Among the technology adoption theories, task–technology fit (TTF) considers whether a technology fits the tasks, but only two previous studies involved the use of TTF. This study discusses the suitability of these existing models of technology adoption for blockchain applications in supply chains and comes up with a new unified model, namely TOE-TTF-UTAUT. This review also has implications for a more appropriate conceptual research design using mixed methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Wong & John Kun Woon Yeung & Yui-Yip Lau & Tomoya Kawasaki & Raymond Kwong, 2024. "A Critical Literature Review on Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-40, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:12:p:5174-:d:1417085
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/12/5174/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/12/5174/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fosso Wamba, Samuel & Queiroz, Maciel M. & Trinchera, Laura, 2020. "Dynamics between blockchain adoption determinants and supply chain performance: An empirical investigation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    2. Bin Zhu & Zeshui Xu & Meimei Xia, 2012. "Dual Hesitant Fuzzy Sets," Journal of Applied Mathematics, Hindawi, vol. 2012, pages 1-13, May.
    3. Vincent Charles & Ali Emrouznejad & Tatiana Gherman, 2023. "A critical analysis of the integration of blockchain and artificial intelligence for supply chain," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(1), pages 7-47, August.
    4. Qingyu Zhang & Salman Khan & Safeer Ullah Khan & Ikram Ullah Khan, 2023. "Understanding Blockchain Technology Adoption in Operation and Supply Chain Management of Pakistan: Extending UTAUT Model With Technology Readiness, Technology Affinity and Trust," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, October.
    5. Kumar, Sourabh & Barua, Mukesh Kumar, 2023. "Exploring the hyperledger blockchain technology disruption and barriers of blockchain adoption in petroleum supply chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Wei Guan & Wenhong Ding & Bobo Zhang & Jerome Verny, 2023. "The role of supply chain alignment in coping with resource dependency in blockchain adoption: empirical evidence from China," Post-Print hal-03935256, HAL.
    7. Meier, Oliver & Gruchmann, Tim & Ivanov, Dmitry, 2023. "Circular supply chain management with blockchain technology: A dynamic capabilities view," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    8. Hamed Taherdoost, 2022. "A Critical Review of Blockchain Acceptance Models—Blockchain Technology Adoption Frameworks and Applications," Post-Print hal-03741851, HAL.
    9. Yang, Chung-Shan, 2019. "Maritime shipping digitalization: Blockchain-based technology applications, future improvements, and intention to use," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 108-117.
    10. WeiMing Mou & Wing-Keung Wong & Michael McAleer, 2018. "Financial Credit Risk Evaluation Based on Core Enterprise Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    12. Chuangneng Cai & Xiancheng Hao & Kui Wang & Xuebing Dong, 2023. "The Impact of Perceived Benefits on Blockchain Adoption in Supply Chain Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-24, April.
    13. Westaby, James D., 2005. "Behavioral reasoning theory: Identifying new linkages underlying intentions and behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 97-120, November.
    14. Maher Agi & Ashish Kumar Jha, 2022. "Blockchain technology in the supply chain: An integrated theoretical perspective of organizational adoption," Post-Print hal-03602937, HAL.
    15. Kevin Zhu & Kenneth L. Kraemer & Sean Xu, 2006. "The Process of Innovation Assimilation by Firms in Different Countries: A Technology Diffusion Perspective on E-Business," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(10), pages 1557-1576, October.
    16. Hefu Liu & Weiling Ke & Kwok Kee Wei & Zhengsheng Hua, 2015. "Influence of power and trust on the intention to adopt electronic supply chain management in China," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 70-87, January.
    17. Kouhizadeh, Mahtab & Saberi, Sara & Sarkis, Joseph, 2021. "Blockchain technology and the sustainable supply chain: Theoretically exploring adoption barriers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    18. Hillol Bala & Viswanath Venkatesh, 2007. "Assimilation of Interorganizational Business Process Standards," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 340-362, September.
    19. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    20. Amit Kumar Bhardwaj & Arunesh Garg & Yuvraj Gajpal, 2021. "Determinants of Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chains by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-14, June.
    21. Patil, Kiran & Ojha, Divesh & Struckell, Elisabeth M. & Patel, Pankaj C., 2023. "Behavioral drivers of blockchain assimilation in supply chains – A social network theory perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    22. Tejas Potnis & Yui-yip Lau & Tsz Leung Yip, 2023. "Roles of Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Capability and Flexibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, May.
    23. Agi, Maher A.N. & Jha, Ashish Kumar, 2022. "Blockchain technology in the supply chain: An integrated theoretical perspective of organizational adoption," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jun Chen & Asma-Qamaliah Abdul-Hamid & Suhaiza Zailani, 2024. "Blockchain Adoption for a Circular Economy in the Chinese Automotive Industry: Identification of Influencing Factors Using an Integrated TOE-TAM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-28, December.
    2. Xiaole Han & Leong-Mow Gooi, 2025. "Multi-Level Determinants of Sustainable Blockchain Technology Adoption in SCM: Individual, Organisational, and Societal Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-56, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kumar, Sourabh & Barua, Mukesh Kumar, 2023. "Exploring the hyperledger blockchain technology disruption and barriers of blockchain adoption in petroleum supply chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Ying Teng & Kuo-Chung Shang & Hui-Chih Wang & Szu-Yu Kuo & Chin-Shan Lu, 2025. "The implementation of blockchain adoption in China’s manufacturing industry: the technology organization environment (TOE) method," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Yadav, Amit Kumar & Shweta, & Kumar, Dinesh, 2023. "Blockchain technology and vaccine supply chain: Exploration and analysis of the adoption barriers in the Indian context," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    4. Ajay Kumar Pandey & Yash Daultani & Saurabh Pratap, 2024. "Blockchain technology enabled critical success factors for supply chain resilience and sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 1533-1554, February.
    5. Rizwan Manzoor & B. S. Sahay & Sujeet Kumar Singh, 2025. "Blockchain technology in supply chain management: an organizational theoretic overview and research agenda," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 348(3), pages 1307-1354, May.
    6. Fatma Gül Yazıcılar Sola & Dilşad Güzel, 2025. "The Role of Supply Chain Transparency and Supplier Trust in the Impact of Blockchain Technology Adoption on New Product Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-31, June.
    7. Jovanovic, Marin & Kostić, Nikola & Sebastian, Ina M. & Sedej, Tomaz, 2022. "Managing a blockchain-based platform ecosystem for industry-wide adoption: The case of TradeLens," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. Sharma, Prateek & Shukla, Dhirendra Mani & Raj, Alok, 2023. "Blockchain adoption and firm performance: The contingent roles of intangible capital and environmental dynamism," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    9. Fosso Wamba, Samuel & Queiroz, Maciel M. & Trinchera, Laura, 2024. "The role of artificial intelligence-enabled dynamic capability on environmental performance: The mediation effect of a data-driven culture in France and the USA," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    10. Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Adnan Ahmed Sheikh & Nadir Munir Hassan & Zhang Yu, 2024. "Modeling the Intricate Association between Sustainable Service Quality and Supply Chain Performance: Moderating Role of Blockchain Technology and Environmental Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, June.
    11. Mukherjee, Abheek Anjan & Raj, Alok & Aggarwal, Shikha, 2023. "Identification of barriers and their mitigation strategies for industry 5.0 implementation in emerging economies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    12. Bai, Chunguang & Zhu, Qingyun & Sarkis, Joseph, 2024. "Do blockchain capabilities help overcome supply and operational risks: Insights from firm market returns during COVID-19," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Weizhong Wang & Yu Chen & Yi Wang & Muhammet Deveci & Amer Al-Hinai & Seifedine Kadry, 2025. "Analyzing the barriers to blockchain adoption in supply chain finance using an integrated interval-valued Fermatean fuzzy RAFSI model," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-39, December.
    14. Xiaole Han & Leong-Mow Gooi, 2025. "Multi-Level Determinants of Sustainable Blockchain Technology Adoption in SCM: Individual, Organisational, and Societal Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-56, March.
    15. Aslam, Javed & Lai, Kee-hung & Hanbali, Ahmad Al & Khan, Nokhaiz Tariq, 2025. "Blockchain solution for supply chains & logistics challenges: An empirical investigation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    16. Kumar, Devinder & Singh, Rajesh Kr & Mishra, Ruchi & Daim, Tugrul U., 2023. "Roadmap for integrating blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) for sustainable and secured operations in logistics and supply chains: Decision making framework with case illustration," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    17. Ammar AL-Ashmori & Gunasekar Thangarasu & P. D. D. Dominic & Al-Baraa Abdulrahman Al-Mekhlafi, 2023. "A Readiness Model and Factors Influencing Blockchain Adoption in Malaysia’s Software Sector: A Survey Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-28, August.
    18. Kirti Nayal & Rakesh D. Raut & Balkrishna E. Narkhede & Pragati Priyadarshinee & Gajanan B. Panchal & Vidyadhar V. Gedam, 2023. "Antecedents for blockchain technology-enabled sustainable agriculture supply chain," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(1), pages 293-337, August.
    19. Pattanayak, Sirsha & Ramkumar, M. & Goswami, Mohit & Rana, Nripendra P., 2024. "Blockchain technology and supply chain performance: The role of trust and relational capabilities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    20. Yan, Ji & Gui, Qinchang & Jiang, Sitong & Yu, Zihao & Fernandes, Kieran & Tian, Kun & Xia, Senmao & Gong, Yu, 2025. "How does blockchain application impact on supply chain alliance?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:12:p:5174-:d:1417085. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.