Berk Küçükaltan, Rıfat Kamaşak, Baris Yalcinkaya, Zahir Irani
Blockchain has gained momentum as a disruptive technology in supply chain management against its introduction as a finance-related instrument. Nevertheless, the developing academic understanding and the limited practical implications lead to insufficient insights into the use of blockchain technology, particularly in the supply chain finance (SCF) domain. Thus, the expected potential of blockchain technology remains underexplored. Accordingly, this study explicates this situation by examining the extant literature findings and web-based big data that can provide evidence about the real needs in supply chains, and investigating how blockchain emerges as a disruptive SCF-oriented technology. The study employs a web analytics method, Search Engine Results Page (SERP) analysis which considers the trends in blockchain technology use and the interactions between blockchain, supply chain and finance appearing in Google searches. The SERP method examined real-time clicks, web traffics and most commonly asked questions about blockchain. The SERP findings revealed that the interest in blockchain technology neither focused on finance nor data privacy as emphasised in the literature but mainly on the benefits of increasing digitalisation and efficiency in supply chains. The results offered practical implications for capturing recent blockchain- and supply chain-related trends and designing more digital and efficient supply chains.
Sep 4, 2022·AJIS. Australasian journal of information systems/AJIS. Australian journal of information systems/Australian journal of information systems
Supply chains face many challenges around coordination, information asymmetry, quality assurance, complex disruptions, and traceability. Blockchain is arguably a technology that can address these challenges and make a significant impact. To shed light on the impact of blockchain, we undertake a cross-discipline systematic literature review on blockchain and supply chains. This review focused on identifying blockchain’s current and proposed impacts on the supply chain at three levels: organisational, inter-organisational, and industry. The findings identified twelve core supply chain themes across pre-implementation, post-implementation, and emerging tensions associated with adopting blockchain. These findings extend knowledge by going beyond understanding blockchain and its application and articulating multi-levels of impacts. Based on our review, we propose future research directions. By providing an overview of the current impact of blockchain, the review also offers insights to help managers to make informed decisions around the implementation and use of blockchain in supply chains.
Mohammad Rashed Hasan Polas, Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi, Ahmed Imran Kabir, Abu Saleh Md. Sohel‐Uz‐Zaman · 6 authors
This study investigates the variables affecting the adoption of blockchain technology (BT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) via the mediating lens of risk-taking behavior. As an initial sample, 150 owners/top managers from 150 SMEs (one informant from each) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, were chosen. A stratified random sample was employed for this cross-sectional study. Applying structural equation modeling, the combined influence of internal and external variables influencing the intention to adopt BT is explored. Results show that: (1) knowledge of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (2) the relevant advantage of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (3) perceived ease of use of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (4) risk-taking behavior mediates the relationship between knowledge of artificial intelligence and adoption of blockchain technology; (5) risk-taking behavior does not mediate the relationship between relevant advantage and perceived ease of use of artificial intelligence with the adoption of blockchain technology. The current study is one of the few empirical investigations relating to SMEs using artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies for business operations. The study’s limitations are the small sample size and use of a single informant. However, the findings on the adoption of blockchain technology have applications for boosting the competitiveness of SMEs. This study’s originality stems from two factors: the novelty of blockchain technology and its potential to upend SMEs’ conventional mode of operation. It highlights the need to consider the key variables affecting SMEs’ adoption of blockchain technology with artificial intelligence.
Dating back many millennia, agriculture is an ancient practice in the evolution of civilization. It was developed when humans thought about it and concluded that not everyone in the community was required to produce food. Instead, specialized labor, tools, and techniques could help people achieve surplus food for their community. Since then, agriculture has continuously evolved across the ages and has occupied a vital, synergistic position in the existence of humanity. The evolution of agriculture was based on a compulsion to feed the growing population, and, importantly, maintain the quality and traceability of food, prevent counterfeit products, and modernize and optimize yield. Recent trends and advancements in blockchain technology have some significant attributes that are ideal for agriculture. The invention and implementation of blockchain have caused a fair share of positive disruptions and evolutionary adoption in agriculture to modernize the domain. Blockchain has been adopted at various stages of the agriculture lifecycle for improved evolution. This work presents an intense survey of the literature on how blockchain has positively impacted and continues to influence various market verticals in agriculture, the challenges and the future.
Blockchain technology has been identified as a possible solution to address critical challenges faced by the food sector. Building on the potential of Blockchain within Food Supply Chains (FSC), this study aims to develop an evidence-based implementation model for Blockchain in the food industry. Innovation Adoption and other prominent theories are integrated to first develop a conceptual framework, which is later validated following an analysis of the qualitative data. Fifteen semi-structured expert interviews are used to develop an evidence-driven, applied model for implementing Blockchain; providing detailed insights into typical stages, associated activities, and contextual determinants needed for successful integration. An empirically validated implementation model advances the extant academic literature and further provides a detailed roadmap for food practitioners, while initiating Blockchain projects with their firms and/or supply chains.
The present study aims to highlight the features of Connected Papers, a visual tool that can help researchers find and explore academic papers in their literature search. The authors describe how Connected Papers allow to create a network of all the literature available related to a chosen paper. One can use Connected Papers to pull together related papers on a chosen topic and see prior and derivative works based on that topic. Using the Connected Papers tool authors attempt to visualize the key literature on the topic “Blockchain in libraries.” To date, most Blockchain technology applications in libraries are still in the conceptual stage. However, sooner or later, the development and implementation of the technology are expected to facilitate the transformation of how libraries provide services and organize information. This study contributes to examining the research being done to explore the potential of Blockchain technology in libraries through mapping and visualization. The paper is original in terms of the Visual tool used “Connected Papers.”
The purpose of this paper is to portray an integrated Education Model which proposes to be student-centric and using technologies like Blockchain technology which can offer security, authenticity, immutability, longevity, data, information, decentralization, no intermediator, reliability, and data integrity. Education Blockchain 4.0 is a part of the Industrial revolution 4.0 which is disrupting the education sector. Blockchain technology is in focus in the last decade amongst users, researchers and practitioners. Despite the growing interest in Blockchain technology, the education sector has not seen much progress in terms of applications. This system uses the research of blockchain-based educational applications. The world is accelerating with IoT and AI. Industry revolution 4.0 is becoming a mandatory standard and necessity in globalization and a logical outcome is Education Blockchain 4.0. It is the need in the educational system due to the disruption initiated by technologies. Quantitative Methodology will be used to prove the conceptual model that proves the relationship between various constructs using PLS-SEM, which statistically can prove these relationships. Smart Blockchain System in education will make everything digital, easily storable, immutable, secured, longevity, easy access, cost-effective, User friendly and integrable to other technologies. The proposed Education Blockchain 4.0 smart system is poised to achieve these objectives across domains and to integrate further technologies making it the most suitable choice for these applications, which is the major contribution of this study. Also, the integration of the system theory of the new student centric education ecosystem, the disruption theory for Blockchain technology in education and the stakeholder theory applied to the education. Education Blockchain 4.0 will be useful for educational organizations to be cost-effective, achieve volumes of scale by integrating various functionalities, sectors. It will be useful for making policy decisions to enhance revenue, profitability and deliver stakeholder satisfaction.
Taher M. Ghazal, Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, Siti Norul Huda Sheikh Abdullah, Khairul Azmi Abu Bakar · 5 authors
Electronic Health monitoring system has performed an essential role in managing healthcare monitoring. E-health can provide effective and valuable facilities for the patients to monitor. Though, there are protection disputes in the current E-Health system. The current e-health system, on the other hand, has security issues. Malevolent doctors may work together with cloud Storage Service Providers (CSPs) to interfere with patients' electronic health records (EHRs) or promptly leak EHR matter to other enemies for income. (EHRs). The malevolent doctors may conspire with the Patient Healthcare Monitoring Service Provider (PHMSP) to manipulate with the patients'. For profit, EHRs or directly divulge the EHR content of EHRs to other opponents. Block-chain has recently appeared as one of the most powerful methods in the protection and secrecy fields. It is assumed to be the promised security approach that will eventually replace the security challenges in existing e-health monitoring systems. Encryption in blockchain refers to technical methods that make accessing encrypted data difficult for unauthorized resources. This research proposed a blockchain-based encryption framework to provide security-based solutions using a computational intelligence methodology. The proposed approach provides better results in terms of 0.93 in the training phase and 0.91 in the validation accuracy.
<span>Due to its uniquely suited to the knowledge era, the blockchain technology has currently become highly appealing to the next generation. In addition, such technology has been recently extended to the internet of things (IoT). In essence, the blockchain concept necessitates the use of a decentralized data operation system to store as well as to distribute data and the transactions across the net. Therefore, this study examines the specific concept of the blockchain as a decentralized data management system in the face of probable protection threats. Furthermore, it discusses the present solutions that can be used to counteract those attacks. The blockchain security enhancement solutions are included in this study by summarizing the key points of these solutions. Several blockchain systems and safety devices that register security defenselessness can be developed using such key points. At last, this paper discusses the pending matters and the outlook research paths of blockchain-IoT systems.</span>
Abstract Organizations adopt blockchain technologies to provide solutions that deliver transparency, traceability, trust, and security to their stakeholders. In a novel contribution to the literature, this study adopts the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework to examine the technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions for adopting blockchain technology in supply chains. This represents a departure from prior studies which have adopted the technology acceptance model (TAM), technology readiness index (TRI), theory of planned behavior (TPB), united theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) models. Data was collected through a survey of 525 supply chain management professionals in India. The research model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that all the eleven TOE constructs, including relative advantage, trust, compatibility, security, firm’s IT resources, higher authority support, firm size, monetary resources, rivalry pressure, business partner pressure, and regulatory pressure, had a significant influence on the decision of blockchain technology adoption in Indian supply chains. The findings of this study reveal that the role of blockchain technology adoption in supply chains may significantly improve firm performance improving transparency, trust and security for stakeholders within the supply chain. Further, this research framework contributes to the theoretical advancement of the existing body of knowledge in blockchain technology adoption studies.
Currently, the emerging countries like Morocco seeks to benefit from the potential of blockchain technology to meet its various growing demands, especially in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). This explains the need for more effort to understand blockchain implementation and identify the barriers influencing the blockchain adoption decision in SSCM, especially, from Moroccan industry and service sectors perspective. In this context, this research paper proposes a group decision-making approach to identify the barriers from a comprehensive literature search, then evaluate them based on intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP). Due to the varied importance of the selected barriers, IFAHP is utilized to allocate priority weights for each barrier according to its importance level. The evaluation results reveal that “Government policy and support” and “Challenges in integrating sustainable practices and blockchain technology through sustainable supply chain management (SCM)” are the best ranked barriers that impact the implementation of blockchain technology in Moroccan context. The main objective is to inquire the barriers preventing the blockchain implementation, and assist industry decision-makers in developing supple short- and long-term decision-making strategies for better sustainable supply chain management.
Aiming at improving the enterprise performance and venture capital management, the edge computing is combined with blockchain technology in the construction of the supply chains so as to improve the stability and security of raw material supply chains of venture capital enterprises. Firstly, the relationships among venture capital, enterprise performance, and supply chain integration are analyzed, and the positive impacts of optimization and innovation of supply chain technology and venture capital on enterprise performance improvement are discussed. Secondly, the edge computing and blockchain technology are adopted to optimize the supply chain, and a protocol model is established to improve the security of supply chain information transmission. In addition, the supply chain Internet of Things (IoT) system is designed in layers based on blockchain and edge computing technology. Finally, the designed protocol model is applied to the supply chain and the supplier performance is evaluated by using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). The results show that the gas value of the designed protocol model is stable at 104,000∼116,000 in blockchain transactions, and the execution time of a single blockchain transaction fluctuates between 4,300 and 6,100 ms. Therefore, the designed protocol model can effectively ensure the security of supply chain data during the transmission. The evaluation results of supplier performance suggest that the cooperative relationship between venture capital enterprises and suppliers is affected by many factors. Optimizing the supply chain structure and production activities can improve the performance of suppliers and venture capital enterprises. This work provides a reference for analyzing the performance of blockchain technology on venture capital enterprises and suppliers.
Mustafa Rehman Khan, Fazeelat Masood, Irum Gul, Muhammad Rahies Khan
Purpose: The general objective of the study was to investigate blockchain technology in supply chain management. Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library. Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to blockchain technology in supply chain management. Preliminary empirical review revealed that blockchain technology significantly transformed supply chain management by enhancing transparency, traceability, and efficiency. The immutable ledger and decentralized nature of blockchain provided a robust framework for addressing traditional supply chain challenges, such as fraud, errors, and inefficiencies. The technology’s ability to automate processes through smart contracts streamlined operations and reduced costs. However, challenges such as high initial investments, scalability issues, and the need for industry-wide standards were identified as barriers to widespread adoption. The study emphasized the importance of continued research to address these challenges and refine blockchain applications in supply chain management. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Theory of Transaction Cost Economics, Resource-Based View (RBV) of the Firm and Agency Theory may be used to anchor future studies on blockchain technology in supply chain management. The study recommended expanding theoretical frameworks to better incorporate blockchain technology's unique aspects into supply chain theories. Practically, organizations were advised to conduct pilot projects and phased rollouts to evaluate blockchain's impact before large-scale implementation, and to invest in training for effective technology management. Policy recommendations included the development of regulatory frameworks and industry standards to facilitate blockchain adoption. Collaboration among industry stakeholders was encouraged to address integration challenges and standardize solutions. Further research into specific applications and the integration of blockchain with other technologies was suggested, alongside investment in education and training programs for supply chain professionals.
Mohd Javaid, Abid Haleem, Ravi Pratap Singh, Rajiv Suman · 5 authors
Financial service providers find blockchain technology useful to enhance authenticity, security, and risk management. Several institutions are adopting blockchain in trade and finance systems to build smart contracts between participants, improve efficiency and transparency, and open up newer revenue opportunities. Blockchain’s unique recording capabilities make the existing clearing and settlement process redundant. Banks and other financial entities are adopting blockchain-enabled IDs to identify people. Better results come from organisations’ capacity to foresee emerging trends in financial blockchain applications and develop blockchain functionality. The transfer of asset ownership and addressing the maintenance of a precise financial ledger. Measurement, communication, and analysis of financial information are three significant areas to be focussed on by accounting professionals. Blockchain clarifies asset ownership and the existence of obligations for accountants, and it has the potential to improve productivity. This paper identifies and studies relevant articles related to blockchain for finance. This paper focuses on Blockchain technology and its importance for financial services. Further takes up various tools, strategies, and featured services in Blockchain-based financial services. Finally, the paper identifies and evaluates the significant applications of Blockchain technology in financial services. Credit reports significantly impact the financial lives of customers. Recent data breaches demonstrate the superior security of blockchain-based credit reporting over conventional server-based reporting. Blockchain-based systems enable the faster, more cost-effective, and more customised issuance of digital securities. With its adoption, the market for investors can be expanded, costs for issuers can be reduced, and counterparty risk can be reduced due to the ability to customise digital financial instruments to the demands of investors. It uses mutualised standards, protocols, and shared procedures to give network users a single common source of truth. Participants in the business network can now more easily collaborate, manage data, and agree with this technology’s application.
An Enterprise Resource-Planning (ERP) system is a complex, highly integrated software package for business organizations. However, an ERP system still has its limits, since the ERP business model is centered around individual enterprises. Today there is a great need for closer interactions between enterprises worldwide, a necessity that ERP systems face great difficulties with, when expanding to a full-on ecosystem. By integrating Blockchain Technology (BT) with ERP, we are entering a new epoch of decentralization, allowing organizations to function frictionless in a unified ecosystem. This study highlights the importance of integrating BT and ERP systems as well as explores the major prospective pillars for utilizing BT and ERP. This paper contributes to the academic literature, since there is little research evidence concerning the technical and business aspects of BT and ERP, so it fills the gap by exploring the main potential areas for deploying BT and ERP systems.
The emergence of blockchain technology makes it possible to address disparate distributed system security concerns in formerly ridiculous practices. A key factor of this ability is the decentralization of the symmetrically distributed ledgers of blockchain. Such decentralization has replaced several security functionalities of centralized authority with the use of cryptographic systems. That is, public or asymmetric cryptography is the key part of what makes blockchain technology possible. Recently, the blockchain experience introduces the chance for the healthcare field to implement these knowhows in their electronic records. This adoption supports retaining and sharing the symmetrical patient records with the appropriate alliance of hospitals and healthcare providers in a secure decentralized system, using asymmetric cryptography like hashing, digitally signed transactions, and public key infrastructure. These include specialized applications for drug tracking, applications for observing patients, or Electronic Health Records (EHR). Therefore, it is essential to notice that the principled awareness of the healthcare professionals is the leading point of the right perception ethics. In this work, we provide a thorough review of the issues and applications of utilizing blockchain in the healthcare and medical fields emphasizing the particular challenges and aspects. The study adopted a systematic review of secondary literature in answering the research question. Specifically, this paper aims to investigate how blockchain technology can be applied to improve the overall performance of the healthcare sector and to explore the various challenges and concerns of the application of blockchain in the healthcare system.
Sandra Matarneh, Faris Elghaish, Farzad Pour Rahimian, Nashwan Dawood
The potential of blockchain in the construction sector has been recognized in existing literature, as well as its capacity to be integrated into construction projects to automate financial transactions for increased transparency, security, and control. Permissioned blockchain, according to existing research, can be utilized to create a business network among project participants due to its features being compatible with the nature of the construction sector. This article lays out a framework for introducing permissioned blockchain technology, notably Hyperledger fabric, into the construction delivery process. The suggested framework comprises explicit procedures that show how to develop a network during the pre-construction, construction, and closeout stages. The suggested framework also displays the flow of financial transactions across the envisaged financial system. Because of the capabilities of Building Information Modelling/Management (BIM) and cost planning. As a result, the framework determines the data needed to enter the blockchain financial system from 4D/5D BIM. The benefits of employing blockchain in the construction business were emphasized in a systematic literature review, which also selected the best blockchain platform. The framework can also be used by academics and industry practitioners to recognise the architecture of smart contracts (chaincode) in the construction sector, such as formulating endorsement and validation policies. Finally, the findings of this article will be used to develop a proof-of-concept prototype that will be used to test and confirm the suggested conceptual framework's applicability using a real-world case study.
This research explores the role of Blockchain Technology (BCT) integrated with Reverse Supply Chain Networks (RSCN) and evaluates the relationship between BCT and sustainability performance. A qualitative research design was employed to develop a conceptual framework for BCT in RSCN. This research collected and analysed primary and secondary data from four cases as focal-actors. These focal-actors are from multi-industries in Jordan, namely food, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and toys. These actors are lead-firms and have experience working with RSCNs and technology applications such as BCT. Primary data were acquired from interviews with managers working in these industries, which were supported by the analysis of secondary data that identified two types of themes: internally focused and externally focused BCT-integrated drivers of RSCNs. The analysis also identified how they leverage sustainability performance improvements, including their use of RSCN approaches and features. This research is one of the few attempts to explore BCT integrated into RSCN for better sustainability performance that contributes to the theoretical and practical knowledge of supply chains within emerging economies. All types of actors-as-stakeholders involved with national programs and projects can adopt the new framework. The key findings contribute to the field of RSCN where the adoption of BCT as a broad-based strategy to attain sustainability goals and reverse chain activities along the supply chain is a goal.
COVID-19 has had a huge impact on workers and workplaces across the world while putting regular work practices into disarray. Apart from the obvious effects of COVID-19, the pandemic is anticipated to have a variety of social-psychological, health-related, and economic implications for individuals at work. Despite extensive research on psychological contracts and knowledge sharing, these domains of pedagogic endeavor have received relatively little attention in the context of employee creativity subjected to the boundary conditions of the organization's socialization and work-related curiosity. This study investigates, empirically, the role of psychological contracts in escalating employee creativity through knowledge sharing by considering the moderating role of an organization's socialization and work-related curiosity. The response received from 372 employees of the manufacturing sector has been investigated and analyzed through Smart PLS software. The results have revealed that knowledge sharing is mediating the relationship between psychological contract and employee creative performance, whereas the moderators significantly moderate the relationships between psychological contract and knowledge sharing and between knowledge sharing and employee creative performance accordingly. It has also been depicted that the moderating impact shown by both moderators is significantly high.
Cristina Rodrigues dos Santos Ramos, Maciel M. Queiroz
Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of trust on adopting and implementing blockchain technology in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an exploratory qualitative approach to understand the construct of trust in the context of the educational sector. Data were collected through semistructured questionnaires and online interviews. Findings The research identified that, for most potential blockchain users, trust positively influences the HEIs, because benefits such as secure data sharing and transaction transparency could optimize the daily routine and avoid fraud in academic documents, providing a cooperative and reliable working environment. In addition, the results suggest that trust is needed to overcome challenges related to issues such as costs and privacy. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the advances in the emerging literature on blockchain in the educational sector as a system with the potential to generate trust, as well as the literature on the technology acceptance models. Practical implications For HEI managers and practitioners, this study highlights the need for a greater understanding of the influence of trust in the relationships between HEIs and other stakeholders. Social implications This work shows that adopting blockchain technologies would allow users to build social relationships of trust in a cooperative work environment and develop trusted behavior by sharing data securely and transparently. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies on the adoption and implementation of blockchain in the education sector in Brazil.
The tremendous shift in technology has led to many unconnected things getting interconnected via IoT. IoT is one of the major modes of collecting data from various networked resources and other connected devices. The broad range of IoT, with its huge heterogeneity in handling data, addresses many challenges in the realm of healthcare. Blockchain technology has elevated the use of distributed storage in a positive way. The recent emergence of this technology has paved way for potentially enormous utilization in various fields. Blockchain technology in the fields of IT, finance, industries, government, healthcare, media, and law enforcement has altered the service quality levels to an ethical ideal. Blockchain, in conjunction with IoT, facilitates decentralized collection and storage of data. Integrating blockchain with IoT has emerged as a cutting-edge tool for the decentralized sharing of medical records, monitoring of patients, ensuring the privacy of patient records, predicting the quantum of insurance, and managing supply chains.
Composed of an assortment of countries with vast differences in economic and political development, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has historically been slow to embrace integration. The region consists of a diverse mix of countries with complex colonial legacies, ongoing warfare, tribal and religious enmity, and extreme wealth disparity. Recent advances in technology have the potential to enable greater cohesion and development. One such innovation is blockchain, an immutable distributed ledger technology that eliminates intermediaries and revolutionizes how transactions take place over the Internet. While originating as the technology underlying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain has been applied in many other areas in which data integrity and transparency is vital and has been adopted around the world. This paper explores blockchain adoption in the MENA region, focusing on the financial systems, government policies, and innovation ecosystems within the member countries. Huge discrepancies in the levels of development and adoption of the technology in the MENA countries are revealed, with Israel and several of the oil-rich Gulf states being the most advanced. Examples of blockchain-related collaborations among MENA nations are presented and the future trajectory of blockchain adoption is explored. Keywords: MENA, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Middle East, North Africa, Regional integration