Blockchain Papers

Jainish Bhagat

Supply chain finance (SCF) plays a pivotal role in maintaining liquidity and operational continuity across global value networks. However, systemic supply chain disruptions, macroeconomic volatility, and information asymmetry frequently expose SCF programs to severe friction and default risks. While digital transformation is widely touted as a catalyst for supply chain resilience, empirical evidence regarding the explicit mechanisms through which distinct digital transformation capabilities enhance Supply Chain Finance Resilience (SCFR) remains fragmented. Grounded in the Resource-Based View (RBV), Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), and Information Processing Theory (IPT), this study develops and tests an integrated framework evaluating the direct and indirect impacts of Artificial Intelligence Capability (AIC), Blockchain Capability (BC), and Data Analytics Capability (DAC) on SCFR, mediated by Digital Trust in SCF Platforms (DT).Using a computational research simulation methodology, a respondent-level dataset (N=500) representing supply chain, finance, operations, and IT decision-makers across international enterprises was algorithmically generated under a defensible latent-variable covariance structure. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples was executed to evaluate the measurement and structural models. The structural analysis reveals that AIC (β=0.241,p<.001), BC (β=0.312,p<.001), and DAC (β=0.284,p<.001) significantly and positively drive Digital Trust in SCF Platforms, explaining 54.2% of its variance (R^2=0.542). Digital Trust, in turn, exerts a substantial direct effect on SCFR (β=0.385,p<.001). Furthermore, direct effects on SCFR were confirmed for DAC (β=0.218,p<.001) and AIC (β=0.152,p=.002), whereas the direct link from BC to SCFR was non-significant (β=0.071,p=.158). Formal mediation testing using percentile bootstrapping confirmed that Digital Trust fully mediates the relationship between Blockchain Capability and SCFR, while partially mediating the relationships for AIC and DAC. The overall structural model accounts for 58.6% of the variance in Supply Chain Finance Resilience (R^2=0.586,Q_"predict" ^2=0.412).This methodological prototype advances theoretical understanding by unpacking the granular capability configurations necessary to foster digital trust and financial resilience in supply networks. For practitioners and policymakers, the findings highlight that investing in blockchain technology yields minimal resilience benefits unless coupled with platform-wide digital trust mechanisms, whereas AI and analytics offer dual-pathway benefits across operational and relational domains.

Liuxin Chen, Xing Wang

Digital and intelligent fresh-product supply chains increasingly rely on third-party logistics providers (TPLs) to record and disclose transport-process information. However, the TPL bears data-collection and digital-governance costs while capturing only part of the market value created by credible disclosure. This study develops a supplier-led Stackelberg game for a supplier–TPL–retailer supply chain. Contractual terms are negotiated before operation. Conditional on the negotiated contract, the supplier sets the wholesale price, the TPL selects the disclosure level, and the retailer determines the retail price. We derive decentralized equilibria under blockchain and non-blockchain regimes and compare cost-sharing and joint cost-sharing/revenue-sharing contracts. The results show that cost-sharing increases the TPL’s optimal disclosure level, but disclosure upgrades occur through discrete threshold jumps. Blockchain adoption depends jointly on fixed implementation costs and reliability improvements, and cost-sharing alone may not ensure both adoption and high-level disclosure. Introducing revenue-sharing allows the TPL to internalize part of the demand-side value generated by credible disclosure, leading to a Pareto-improving coordination interval for all supply-chain members. The findings provide a mathematical basis for designing incentive-compatible contracts for blockchain-enabled disclosure in digital fresh product supply chains.