Removing barriers to Blockchain use in circular food supply chains: Practitioner views on achieving operational effectiveness

Okechukwu Okorie; Jennifer Russell; Yifan Jin; Christopher Turner; Yongjing Wang; Fiona Charnley

doi:10.1016/j.clscn.2022.100087

Removing barriers to Blockchain use in circular food supply chains: Practitioner views on achieving operational effectiveness

Okechukwu Okorie^*, Jennifer Russell, Yifan Jin, Christopher Turner, Yongjing Wang, Fiona Charnley

^*Corresponding author for this work

Mechanical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The increasing demand for a sustainable, reliable and secure supply chain for food products has led to the application of digital technologies such as blockchain to improve operational effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integration barriers of Blockchain Technology (BCT) within Circular Food Supply Chains (CFSCs) towards firm's operational effectiveness through a multi-methodological process. Initially the integration barriers are identified through a review of literature and these risks are categorised, using evidence obtained by survey questionnaire completed by experts in the integrated research arena. A further quantified prioritisation of these barriers is made by utilizing a Fuzzy Delphi approach, validated by expert practitioners drawn from the food production and supply organizations. Finally, through semi-structured interviews with Blockchain and Food Supply Chain (FSC) experts, an examination of how the integration barriers affect operational effectiveness may be mitigated is provided. This paper concludes that the identified barriers to blockchain integration have an incremental and real impact on the operational effectiveness of the firm that can only be further clarified through industry-wide standardised processes. Finally, the experts consider blockchain technology an infrastructural addition and enabler of operational effectiveness and not an all-problem solution.

Original language	English
Article number	100087
Number of pages	16
Journal	Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain
Volume	5
Early online date	14 Nov 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clscn.2022.100087
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Dr. Okechukwu Okorie led this study while he was a Senior Research Fellow as sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Circular 4.0 funding, No. EP/R032041/1. This support is acknowledged. The authors also wish to express their profound thanks to the respondents who provided useful data for this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

Blockchain technology
Circular economy
Digital technology
Food supply chain
Operational effectiveness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Management of Technology and Innovation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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OkorieO2022RemovingFinal published version, 1.46 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Cite this

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abstract = "The increasing demand for a sustainable, reliable and secure supply chain for food products has led to the application of digital technologies such as blockchain to improve operational effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integration barriers of Blockchain Technology (BCT) within Circular Food Supply Chains (CFSCs) towards firm's operational effectiveness through a multi-methodological process. Initially the integration barriers are identified through a review of literature and these risks are categorised, using evidence obtained by survey questionnaire completed by experts in the integrated research arena. A further quantified prioritisation of these barriers is made by utilizing a Fuzzy Delphi approach, validated by expert practitioners drawn from the food production and supply organizations. Finally, through semi-structured interviews with Blockchain and Food Supply Chain (FSC) experts, an examination of how the integration barriers affect operational effectiveness may be mitigated is provided. This paper concludes that the identified barriers to blockchain integration have an incremental and real impact on the operational effectiveness of the firm that can only be further clarified through industry-wide standardised processes. Finally, the experts consider blockchain technology an infrastructural addition and enabler of operational effectiveness and not an all-problem solution.",

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Removing barriers to Blockchain use in circular food supply chains: Practitioner views on achieving operational effectiveness

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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