Adopting blockchain-based traceability in the fruit supply chain in a developing economy: facilitators and barriers
Abstract
Purpose
Blockchain-based traceability technology (BTT) is an emerging digital technology that claims to have the potential to fulfil the demand for traceability to safeguard fruit safety. Drawing on the technological, organisational and environmental (TOE) framework, this study aims to investigate the perceived facilitators and barriers that influence the behavioural intentions of multiple stakeholders in the Vietnamese fruit supply chain (i.e., farmers, trading enterprises and consumers) to adopt BTT.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilised a qualitative approach of semi-structured in-depth interviews with 60 stakeholders in the Vietnamese fruit supply chain to achieve the research objectives. NVivo 12 was employed to analyse the collected data using content and thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings identify several perceived facilitators that motivate BTT adoption. These include trust, transparency, business performance, the formation of alliances, consumer awareness of food safety and ethical agricultural practices, fruit branding and the pivotal role of farmers' cooperatives. Meanwhile, the perceived barriers to BTT adoption include a lack of digital literacy amongst the stakeholders, poor organisational culture, the high cost of traceability-enabled products and data privacy and security governance.
Practical implications
This study suggests that technology awareness and perceived facilitators and barriers should be incorporated into the design and deployment of blockchain-based traceability technology in the agri-food supply chain in developing countries.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first qualitative paper that attempts to fill the research gap of understanding the perceived facilitators and barriers that influence the intentions of multiple stakeholders in the fruit supply chain to adopt BTT in the context of a developing economy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Office for Research & Innovation, RMIT University Vietnam for the financial support granted. The authors would like to thank the participants of the survey study, the audience at the VBER Conference 2022 at Ho Chi Minh City Open University and the Fintech-Blockchain Conference 2022 at RMIT University Vietnam for their valuable comments to improve the quality of the paper and Phuong Le for excellent research assistance.
Citation
Yap, T.L., Nayak, R., Vu, N.T.H., Bui, D.T., Pham, T.T.T. and Allen, D.W.E. (2023), "Adopting blockchain-based traceability in the fruit supply chain in a developing economy: facilitators and barriers", Information Technology & People, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2023-0168
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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