Muhammad Nazam, Muhammad Hashim, Florian Marcel Nuţă, Liming Yao · 8 authors
The adoption of blockchain technology (BCT) in a supply chain holds great potential for textile industries by executing transactions among stakeholders in a most reliable and verifiable way. Textile industries in emerging economies, like Pakistan, confront severe economic pressures and uncertain environment and strive to achieve sustainable supply chain excellence through blockchain implementation. This study is an initiative to analyze the key barriers in adopting BCT-related practices within the textile industry. This study conducts an extensive review of the literature using fuzzy Delphi approach for finalizing the barriers and applied fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for prioritizing the barriers under uncertain environment. Based on the extensive review of the literature and panel discussions with experts, a total of five main barriers and 21 sub-barriers were categorized and ranked. The results and findings prioritize technological and system-related barriers (TSB) first, and human resources and R&D (HRB) barriers second among the other barrier dimensions. This paper highlights the need for an inclusive understanding of the various technological, environmental, and socio-economic perspectives to create blockchain applications that work for the textile sector. This study’s key findings and policy guidelines can assist concerned stakeholders in making strategic decisions for adopting BCT within the textile supply chain. The managerial implications are provided for the industrial decision-makers and policymakers aiming to integrate BCT into the supply chain processes. Presently, there exists no research in the context of Pakistan that highlights the challenges faced during the adoption of BCT in the supply chain. For this purpose, an approach in the form of an integrated model based on fuzzy set theory is developed. Finally, the robustness of the proposed model is checked through sensitivity analysis.
Juan Carlos López-Pimentel, Miguel Alcaraz-Rivera, Rafael Granillo Macías, Elìas Olivares-Benítez
Currently, the Mexican avocado supply chain has some social limitations that make the traceability process a difficult task and severely limits the regions that can add their harvest to the international market. We hypothesize that modernizing the traceability process and improving the trust of the final user could help in opening the market to other regions. This paper describes the Mexican avocado supply chain characteristics, identifies the actors involved in the supply chain, and emphasizes the problems that the current actors have when exporting them to the US market. On this basis, we propose a technological solution system to automate the traceability process. The system was designed to comply with the authority and consumer requirements. It proposes a combination of the benefits of traditional data traceability using Microservices architecture with a new layer of Blockchain auditing that will add value to current and new actors in every step of the supply chain. We contribute by proposing a model that adds value to the avocado supply chain with the following characteristics: Integrity, auditing service, dual traceability, transparency, and a front-end application with trust user-oriented. Our proofs demonstrate that the blockchain layer does not represent a considered high extra transaction cost; it could be regarded as despicable for the economy of the consumer considering costs and benefits.
Satheeshkumar Sekar, Annamalai Solayappan, J. Srimathi, Shreya Raja · 8 authors
A blockchain is an advanced technology that can power over a decentralized network. The authors bring it up to design the autonomous transaction system for e-commerce applications; because of the dramatic increase in IoT devices, communication between physical things is enabled. This brings more efficiency and accuracy, which benefits the outsiders while human interaction reduces. There is a big challenge in data storage after payment in the e-commerce application. Blockchain presents an appropriate platform for the distributed data storage; it also protects the data from outsiders. The authors create blocks that check and record each transaction that took place in the e-commerce application. Blockchain is going to protect the user's privacy from outsiders/banks that are being violated. The authors deliver this research in this paper in terms of the method with detailed design and full implementation. The system captures the user data, processes it, and gives a visual representation of the processed data.
With non-fungible tokens (NFT) bringing fundamental change to digital business models, advanced opportunities for boosting customer engagement have opened. This paper discusses the functions of NFTs in offering brands ways to create more intimate relationships between consumers and brands and providing the consumers ownership of valuable, unique digital assets. Based on the case data and market information assessment up to August 2022, the current paper assesses how brands incorporate NFTs into loyalty programs and long-term customer engagement. A comparative analysis of models and a year-by-year trend shows that NFTs' impact continually overshadows the traditional approach. Based on the findings, technology adoption and market fluctuations remain issues. Still, NFTs offer a new outlook to businesses where a customer experience-oriented paradigm shift occurs, allowing brands to create deeper connections with consumers and increase customer lifetime value.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have registered tremendous growth in the past year, and their importance is expected to increase with the expected development of Web3. From a brand perspective, NFTs can be seen as representations of the brand components, such as the product, the logo, or the image. I argue that NFTs have immense potential to become standalone brand assets. I illustrate how this can be achieved by relating the brand's NFT strategies to the marketing funnel stages. Brands can turn into an NFT their physical products such as shoes, shirts, or art to attract brand awareness, generate cross-selling opportunities, and spark stronger perceived ownership of certain brand elements. Importantly, NFTs can allow brands to form a highly engaging brand community that can support the brand, blend online and offline product ownership, and potentially create a bond between the brand and consumers. These exciting possibilities generate a rich research agenda I present in this paper.
Open access
2 source records
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This paper systematically investigates the impact of consumers' health risk perceptions on the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits in China. It uses online-survey data collected from four pilot cities that are part of the food traceability system in China. The ordinary least squares (OLS) and the ordered probit model was applied to examine the posited relationships. The results show that consumers' health risk perception has a significant positive effect on the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. The stronger consumers' health risk perception, the stronger their purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. Likewise, heterogeneity exists among gender, age, income, and education in their corresponding effect of consumers' health risk perception on blockchain traceable fresh fruit purchase intention. This suggests that male, high-aged, high-income and high-educated groups have a higher health risk perception, and therefore a higher purchase perception for blockchain traceable fresh fruits than female, low-aged, low-income and low-educated, respectively. Furthermore, family structure, consumers' traceability cognition and purchase experience of traceable products affect the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. The study has several insights on the broader promotion, acceptance and development of the food traceability system and provides practical cues for policy and practice.
Luís Alves, Estrela Ferreira Cruz, António Miguel Rosado da Cruz
In the current days, the Textile & Clothing industry sector is one of the largest and one with the greatest environmental impact, not only due to the consumption of water and the use of toxic chemicals, but also due to the increasing levels of textile waste. In addition, this industry often resorts to countries with cheap labor where workers’ rights are typically not met. The solution may involve the final consumer who, while purchasing these products, supports the entire value chain. If the final consumer chooses to buy products that are more socially and environmentally sustainable, it inspires the industry to follow this trend. For this, the final consumer must know the social and environmental indicators of the entire value chain and must trust on the information received. In this paper, Design Science Research is being used to build a system architecture capable of tracing these environmental and social indicators using decentralized and distributed technologies, like blockchain and smart contracts, to build Decentralized Applications (DApp).
The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to the acceleration of the digitization process and to a shifting to Industry 4.0. Blockchain (BC) is one of the technologies that has been introduced worldwide in recent years. It has been beneficial for the tourism industry, in addition to many other sectors. This article investigates the advantages and disadvantages of BC adoption in the tourism industry, as well as the possible solutions to overcome the challenges. This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) that consists of the operations for detecting, selecting, categorizing, and analyzing relevant articles on a specified subject. It is evident from the results that the majority of the academic works illustrate the benefits of BC implementation and explain its potential by providing diverse models of BC-based systems. However, since BC is a young technology, numerous challenges have appeared on the path to its full adoption in the tourism industry. Possible solutions are the achievement of a collaborative approach among the stakeholders, the deepening of academic research in the field, testing more models of BC-based systems, and the establishment of relevant policies. Consequently, the implications for the theory, practice, policy, and research of this work are significant.
The concept of fashion has been coupled with technology, where technology has become the protagonist. The transparency between an organization and a customer works as a catalyst, and the customer has taken a more mainstream role. With blockchain technology, companies can reconnect with customers and customers can track the journey of a product from its raw materials to the finished goods. The primary focus of the study is on services and data collected from the following sectors, namely fashion, apparel, and online platforms. The author's main goals are (1) to illustrate an overview of how big data is transforming the service industry, especially the fashion and design sector, and (2) to present various mechanisms adopted in the service industry. The study aims to investigate a model that fits through EXT-TAM and uses additional attributes of blockchain technology with a special reference to fashion apparel. The findings of this study depict a model, where PEOU, PU, and attitude are the major constructs and present a win-win scenario for both the customer and the organization.
Tracing food products along the entire supply chain is important for achieving better management of food products. Traditionally, centralized traceability systems have been developed for such purposes. One major drawback of this approach is that different users of the supply chain have their own systems with their own complexities and distinct features; thus, the interaction among them creates challenges when implementing a single centralized system. Therefore, a decentralized traceability system is favorable for tracing food products along the supply chain. In this study, we develop a supply chain traceability system framework based on blockchain and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The system consists of a decentralized blockchain-enabled data storage platform for data management and an RFID system at the packaging level for data collection and storage. We applied a consortium blockchain to the application. Fabric 2.0 in Hyperledger was chosen as the development platform. The proposed blockchain-enabled platform can provide decentralized data management and its underlying algorithm can guarantee data security. The system includes a creatively designed blockchain-enabled data structure in the RFID tag. When people scan the tag, the relevant information is written in the tag as a block linked to the previous blocks; simultaneously, the information is transmitted to the blockchain platform and recorded on the platform. No battery is required and the system works when there is an RFID reader nearby. The usage conditions included shipment, stocking, and storage. The RFID tag can be directly attached to paper packaging. This approach embeds the blockchain technique into the RFID tag and develops a corresponding system. The new traceability system has the potential to simplify the tracking of products and can be scaled for industrial use.
Jun Chen, Shiyan Xu, Kaikai Liu, Shuqi Yao · 6 authors
In order to cut down on costs to the greatest possible extent, enterprises hope to distribute goods to different customers at the lowest costs possible. Based on this, this paper proposes an optimal location method for an intelligent transportation logistics warehouse. This scheme combines a variety of complex mechanisms to allow IoT devices to provide input. The scheme makes full use of the irreducibility of a blockchain system to promote the development and design of blockchain logistics applications. This method is aimed at tracking the progress of transportation of products in the whole supply chain. Experimental results show that, compared with traditional methods, the optimal positioning method has the advantages of fewer calculations, a high positioning accuracy, and a low overall cost, and it obtains the best warehouse positioning results. Based on the Internet of Things and blockchain technology, the application of intelligent logistics systems enables enterprises to intuitively understand their current inventory and the transportation status of goods, thus better controlling changes in enterprise resources.
Digitalization plays an integral role in the transformation of the Omni structure. This study aims to investigate the effect of digital marketing capabilities (DMCs) and blockchain technology on customer-linking capabilities (CLCs), market-sensing capabilities (MSCs), consumer-brand engagement (CBE), and firm performance in China. The study was quantitative, and a simple random sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, 311 questionnaires were distributed, and a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect the data from the respondents who were employed in the Omni structure industries. The research hypothesis was tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results have identified a significant correlation and direct effect between DMCs, CLCs, MSCs, and firm performance. Remarkably, the effect of DMCs on CBE is significant. The mediating effect of MSCs and CLCs is significant between the relationship of DMCs and firm performance. The organization performance in the Omni structure depends on how well the DMCs have been employed. The DMCs influence MSCs, CLCs, and CBE. Henceforth, this study contributes by analyzing the role of DMCs in blockchain technology.
Open access
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Carol Riona Lobo, Hendro Wicaksono, Omid Fatahi Valilai
The advancement in technology, such as, Smart Logistics, IoT, RFID, sensors, and 5G, resulted in the evolution of Industry 4.0 that has started gaining a lot of popularity among different sectors like last mile delivery. This is important as the rising demand for such technology enabled platforms has been found to be necessary for fulfilling the opt for e-commerce services to support the retail outlets. The literature shows that to relax the pressure on the last mile sector, blockchain technology can be an effective solution both to protect the firm financial aspects and sustainability requirements. To ensure efficiency in the system and success in the implementation of blockchain technology into the last mile delivery sector, it is essential to study the various factors and capabilities of blockchain to handle the existing problems and requirements to analyze the efficiency of this integration. The focus areas of this paper are mainly to identify the impact of applying blockchain technology to support the last mile delivery of goods. The impacted areas focus mainly on the efficiency of the process and its leverage on the costs, both administrative and operational, and level of sustainability achieved. The proposed platform has enabled the enhancement of the integration of blockchain into the last mile delivery. The proposed smart contract system is designed to efficiently assign the orders from the demander to the respective fleet providers with the help of miners. This assignment is made possible by considering the various aspects that have been stored into the system, namely geographical location, the proximity to the destination of delivery along the route of delivery, size of the parcels, and capacity of the fleet.
Patrick Burgess, Funlade Sunmola, Sigrid Wertheim‐Heck
Food system (re)localisation involves moving food systems back to local areas and a result are the short food supply chains. Food system (re)localisation is occurring to offset the perceived negative impacts of global food systems. Short food supply chains may face challenges in terms of quality set at national and international levels. Short food supply chains will benefit from technologies that can be developed to meet specific requirements which can be significantly different from those in conventional level food supply chains. One such digital technology is blockchain. This paper aims to present a blockchain based quality management architecture developed for short food supply chains. Requirements for the blockchain architecture are based on existing literature on quality management in food supply chains, with an emphasis on the specifics of quality and re-localisation in short food supply chains. Also considered in the architecture are the characteristic features of blockchain, with some emphasis on trust management and smart contracts. The adoption considerations regarding the resulting architecture are highlighted. It is concluded that the architecture has features relevant to the short food supply chain that differs from conventional food supply chains. Future work regarding implementation and validation of the architecture developed is suggested.
Wahome E. Wangui, Thomas Ogoro Ombati, Robert Oboko
In the last decade, research and development around distributed ledger technology (DLT) has grown exponentially. The financial services industry has been revolutionized by the explosion of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Researchers have taken the principles used in these cryptocurrencies and are using them to develop other DLTs in various fields. This study explores how blockchain can be used to provide traceability, visibility, and transparency in the Kenyan informal distributed manufacturing industry. SOKO, an aggregator of artisans spread all over Nairobi, was the case study used. Purposive and convenience-based were the sampling methods used. 48 SOKO supply chain employees and active artisans were the sample population. Interviews and observations were data collection methods used. Content analysis, a qualitative data analysis method, was used to capture emerging and predetermined themes. Google sheets and Dovetail were the tools used for this study. This paper finds that the use of the immutability and proof of origin features of blockchain greatly enhances traceability within a supply chain. It is imperative that the granular information collected should be intuitive and accessible to all parties to enhance visibility. Amplified traceability and visibility greatly improved transparency and accountability within the SOKO ecosystem. A pivotal recommendation for future research is the usage of unit-based tagging technologies e.g. barcodes, QR codes, or RFID. The combined use of such technologies and blockchain would achieve the highest level of traceability, especially when working with diverse producers who produce similar products.
With advances in internet technologies, innovative industrialization applying big data-based artificial intelligence is leading Industry 4.0. However, opportunities for the public to learn about virtual cryptocurrency or utilities based on blockchain technology are limited, except for Bitcoin. This lack of opportunities generates misunderstandings. This study ascertained and examined the determinants affecting the acceptance of new technologies on Jeju Island, Korea, where tourism is the dominant business. A total of 537 Jeju-do residents and potential visitors from the mainland were analyzed by conducting a partial least squares (PLS)- structural equation modeling (SEM) and one-group pretest–posttest design through a survey after observing a video clip on blockchain implementation on YouTube. The empirical analysis results showed the effect of blockchain trust transparency on the performance and effort expectancy. Facilitating conditions were found to be the most influential in blockchain technology acceptance. Following a video experiment introducing blockchain implementation as a currency for Jeju tourism, a significant positive change towards the implementation of blockchain was observed. This paper presents a concrete application of blockchain technology and shows the possibility of using social media (YouTube) to elicit user awareness and potential interest in the domestic tourism market.
Abstract In this article, we argue that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) challenge established marketing understanding of digital ownership, uniqueness, and value; authenticity, status, and sharing; and branding and distribution. We propose a set of preliminary research questions rooted in these areas, in hopes of offering entry points to future programmatic investigation of the broader field of “crypto-marketing.” This emerging subdiscipline offers opportunities to expand our understanding of consumer behavior, pricing, and product design and may be crucial in predicting the future of our discipline as NFTs further evolve.
Open access
2 source records
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
FengQin ZhuanSun, Jiaojiao Chen, Wenlong Chen, Yan Sun
With the development of society, e-commerce competition has become increasingly intense and has ascended to the level of the ecosystem. Therefore, it is extremely significant to study the mechanism of evolution and balance for the e-commerce ecosystem. Simultaneously, blockchain technology is essentially a consensus mechanism, the core idea of which is decentralization, but it is actually the deconstruction of privileges and authority. Especially, the influence on the e-commerce ecosystem cannot be underestimated. Blockchain technology ultimately changes not only technology, but a comprehensive reconstruction of various industries. Building an e-commerce information ecosystem based on blockchain can promote the healthy and sustainable development of e-commerce information ecology. This work combines the definition and technical characteristics of blockchain, discusses the blockchain-based e-commerce information ecosystem model, and discusses how to achieve the ecological balance and system evolution of e-commerce under the background of blockchain. According to the internal problems of the e-commerce ecosystem, three evolutionary paths are proposed in this work. First, consider the timeliness of the information and construct a full-process information channel. Second, remove central nodes and build a safe and efficient block payment. Third, solve the blind zone in the field of logistics and create efficient and transparent intelligent logistics. This work can provide an effective reference for the development of e-commerce.
The specific purposes of this study are (1) to analyze whether there is a difference in the recognition of tourists in the functions of currency according to the type of currency spent by tourists before and after COVID-19; (2) to identify why tourists employ Bitcoin among the functions of currency; and (3) to identify tourists’ intentions to continue to using Bitcoin according to the degree of recognition of the function of virtual currency in Korea. Both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a one-way analysis of variance, a paired t-test, a simple regression analysis, and an in-depth interview, were employed. One of the conclusions implies that tourists in a tourism destination still prefer paying with cash rather than paying with card or virtual currency. Moreover, the study discovered that tourists count more on virtual currency and prepare for a future with virtual currency when a factor that has an unstable impact on social economy, such as COVID-19, happens. As to the functions of Bitcoin, tourists appeared to place a great importance on its storage, value, satisfaction, convenience, and investment. Additionally, the study showed that tourists intend to continue using Bitcoin due to the same satisfaction, convenience, and investment attributed to Bitcoin. More discussion and implications were provided.
Δαμιανός Π. Σακάς, Nikolaos T. Giannakopoulos, Dimitrios P. Reklitis, Thomas K. Dasaklis
In future years, airline companies will be leaning more and more towards cryptocurrencies to implement their digital marketing strategies as leaders seek to gain an understanding of the factors affecting airlines’ visibility parameters. Cryptocurrency investment websites are currently experiencing rising demand, making them an appropriate site for paid advertisements. The above factors suggest the need for airlines to harvest cryptocurrency investment and platform users in their favour. To this end, it can be beneficial for airlines’ web promotions to link certain web analytics metrics to cryptocurrency trading site metrics. For research purposes, web analytics data were monitored and gathered for 2 consecutive years from 10 globally leading cryptocurrency trading companies and 10 airline websites. A three-stage model was adopted by the authors. In the first stage, statistical analysis was implemented using cryptocurrency and airline metrics, followed by fuzzy cognitive mapping and agent-based modelling stages. The findings of the study indicate that engagement with cryptocurrency trading websites has a positive impact on airline websites’ global ranking and visibility parameters. The outcomes of this research provide noteworthy digital marketing strategies which can be addressed by airline companies to increase their website visitors and optimise visibility parameters with the assistance of cryptocurrency trading websites.
Carlos Roberto López Zambrano, Mario Camberos Castro, Edna María Villarreal Peralta
Uno de los posibles determinantes de la intención de usar bitcoin puede ser la confianza de los usuarios, ya que en el poco tiempo de vigencia de la criptomoneda ha demostrado ser una opción real frente al dinero fiduciario. En este aspecto, cabe añadir que existen pocos estudios que consideran a la confianza como un determinante del uso de bitcoin, por lo que el objetivo de este estudio es investigar los factores en los que se basa la confianza y conocer hasta qué punto el riesgo percibido tiene una connotación negativa sobre el uso de la criptomoneda. Para ello se integra un modelo que es analizado bajo la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales por mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS-SEM), aplicado a una muestra de 174 usuarios de bitcoin. Los resultados de la evaluación de siete hipótesis teóricas indican que los elementos clave de la confianza son las garantías estructurales y la familiaridad ya que determinan la intención de uso y este a su vez el uso real; a diferencia de la confianza basada en las garantías estructurales y la normalidad situacional que son poco significativas. El riesgo percibido demostró tener poca relación con la intención de uso. Por lo tanto, los proveedores de servicios relacionados con bitcoin deben enfocarse en generar situaciones de confianza para los usuarios basadas en la seguridad y las regulaciones, además de crear entornos que generen familiaridad.
With the rapid development of e-commerce services, online retail has evolved from multi-channel to omni-channel in order to provide customers with more services. However, reverse logistics services (returns and exchanges) have become the target of many fraudulent activities, causing a lot of economic losses for many online retail companies. The current challenge of the traditional countermeasure is it requires a lot of manpower and training resources. In this study, we propose ESPRES, a system that adopts blockchain technology to prevent fraudulent behavior in the process of returns and exchanges with the smart contract and multi-attribute decision-support method to help consumers choose a suitable payment program. A practical implication of this study is that by adopting blockchain technology, a great amount of manpower used on determining whether each return or exchange is fraudulent can be reduced since merchants can check the product ownership. In addition, due to the fact that the footprint of goods cannot be forged, it can also prevent counterfeit or parallel imports of goods.
Purpose/objectives: in the last ten years, the implementation of blockchain (BC) technology offers many opportunities for all economic sectors such as finance, health, trade, agriculture, etc. This technology based on distributed digital ledger collects and stores data permanently and in an ordered way, allowing stakeholders to have access to information cryptologically protected. Since 2014, the blockchain technology has been introduced in the tourism industry with the goal to improve this sector. In this contest the present study intents to: 1) carrying out a systematic literature review (SLR) on the implementation of BC technology in tourism economic sector; 2) providing an analysis of its advantages and future challenges.