Reinventing reverse logistics through blockchain technology: a comprehensive review and future research propositions

Abstract

Blockchain Technology (BCT) has effectively evolved in reverse logistics (RL) to speed up its operation by decentralising, tracing, and monitoring the goods delivered to the end consumers. This study outlines the current research fashion of BCT applicability in RL from 2015 to 22. A wide range of 226 research papers is selected from the SCOPUS database to conduct the bibliometric and network analysis for offering a comprehensive literature review on research clusters and fashions of BCT in RL. Some primary research clusters such as infrastructure development, sustainable manufacturing, logistics, circular supply chain, and waste management are identified. The network analysis has helped identify pioneer authors, journals, and countries actively involved in BCT research in RL. The content analysis findings indicate the evolution of BCT in various themes of RL. The articles also develop a result systematisation framework to concisely offer the outcomes of this research. Further, the current study provides recommendations for future research work for academic and industry practitioners based on the existing literature.