Processes and challenges for the adoption of blockchain technology in food supply chains: A thematic analysis

Abstract

Blockchain technology has become increasingly popular and attracted interests from many innovators, technologists and scholars in recent years. Beyond the financial sector, the blockchain technology is promising in addressing the current limitations in food supply chain management. As the adoption of blockchain in food supply chain is still in an early stage, it is significant to have a thematic framework for understanding the processes and challenges. This paper aims to exploring the adoption of blockchain technology in food supply chains with a thematic analysis. A desktop re-search is conducted and all the data is collected from online databases, including Factiva, Nexis, and Google scholar. Then we carry out a qualitative thematic analysis, according to the investigation processes suggested by Creswell. The findings illustrate that business processes, characteristics of blockchain related technologies, and IT governance are very important fac-tors in the process of blockchain adoption in food supply chains. We also identify both four main categories of challenges for the adoption of block-chain technology.