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Blockchain technology for sustainable development:
a systematic literature review
Parikshit Joshi, Vijaishri Tewari and Shailendra Kumar
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Prayagraj, India, and
Anshu Singh
Amity Business School, Amity University, Noida, India
Abstract
Purpose–Blockchain technology (BCT) is one of the latest disruptive innovations, brought along with-it immense scope of diverse applications contributing towards sustainable development (SD). The consistent increase in the publications reveal that the application of BCT for SD has become popular among researchers and practitioners in past few years, in turn, urged for a systematic literature review (SLR) to get an insight into the research journey travelled so far and setting directions for future research in this area. Therefore, this study aims to identify, map and synthesize the available literature on application of BCT for SD.
Design/methodology/approach– The automatic and manual search resulted into 1,277 studies from Scopus and Web of Science database. Further applying inclusion and exclusion criterion resulted in bringing out total of 157 studies, which were termed as primary studies. Based on the results of descriptive analysis, conducted through Bibliometric and VOSviewer software, the characteristics of BCT and its key capabilities, contributing towards shaping the recent SD literature, were critically examined. Identified research themes for clustering primary studies were aligned with United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDG). A mind-map was also prepared on the basis of thematic classification of primary studies.
Findings– The research themes“business practice and economic sustainability”,“agriculture and food security”and “business practice and environment sustainability”were found to be the focal points of scholarly attention. Synthesis and analysis of primary studies resulted into classification of research gaps under four categories–theoretical foundation, methodological limitation, research themes and technology implementation challenges. The study was concluded by sensitizing and sanitizing the concrete research questions for future research.
Research limitations/implications–The researchfindings shall be a roadmap for research scholars, academicians and practitioners to comprehend the present state of knowledge in the domain of“BCT application for SD”and decide upon adopting the future course of action to attain the UNSDGs by the year 2030.
Originality/value–To the best of the authors’knowledge, the current study is thefirst attempt in its own sense to analyse and synthesize the available literature on“attaining SD through BCT”using SLR approach.
Keywords Sustainable development, Blockchain technology, Systematic literature review, Triple bottom line, Bibliometric analysis
Paper typeResearch paper
The authors would like to express sincere thanks to Editor and Anonymous reviewers for giving constructive inputs and suggestions on the paper.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
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Received 16 June 2022 Revised 19 August 2022 16 November 2022 Accepted 3 January 2023
Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing
© Emerald Publishing Limited 2398-5364 DOI10.1108/JGOSS-06-2022-0054
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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are not harmed while meetingfinancial objectives by an organization; the purpose of social sustainability is to ensure that future generations can have the same level of access to nutrition, housing and education, in addition to cultural resources that we are getting today.
The economic, social and environmental dimensions of SD are popularly known as“triple bottom line”(Elkington, 1997).
Responding to the universal call to end poverty, environment protection and ensuring each individual’s peace and prosperity on this planet, the United Nations adopted an agenda with 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) in 2015 (UN, 2015). Aligned with the consensus of a sustainable planet in the best interest for everyone, all 193 member nations of UN agreed to achieve a sustainable future by attaining 17 SDGs by 2030 (Tehet al., 2020).
The SDGs provided the time-bound targets of – prosperity, people, planet, peace and partnership, which voraciously require collaborative efforts by governments, private players, civil society, science and business (Sachset al., 2019).
Attaining SDGs is way more challenging as it requires a complex coupling among human, nature and technology (Sachs et al., 2019) by identifying and minimizing unsustainable practices; recognizing alternative resources as natural resources are depleting; checking carbon footprint (Clayton and Radcliffe, 2015). Developing smart technologies, sharing creativity andfinancial resources from all spheres of the society is a critical way to ensure SD (UN, 2015).
Among several technological disruptions, blockchain technology (BCT) has the huge potential to verify SD (Kshetri, 2018). Due to its strengths like information transparency, information immutability and smart contract to support connectivity and reliability (Kim and Shin, 2019). Developed in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym (Coleet al., 2019), the blockchain is a digital distributed ledger system that creates the possibility to record and verify transactions by multiple party approval (Nikolakiset al., 2018). BCT has emerged as one of the disruptive technology in the current era (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018) and the next generation information technology tool for SD in energy sector (Wang and Su, 2020), FinTech (Fernandez-Vazquezet al., 2019), Agriculture (Kambleet al., 2020a), Food Supply Chain (Rogerson and Parry, 2020), Circular Economy (Kouhizadehet al., 2020), Health care and Transportation (Queirozet al., 2019). The theme“Application of BCT for SD”has gained momentum in the past few years as reported in published literature (Nikolakiset al., 2018).
To summarize the available studies to channelize the next course of work towards optimization of usage of BCT, a systematic literature review (SLR) is much needed. The changes that BCT ensures are revolutionary for companies, both internally and externally, yet the application of technology for SD is at a nascent stage.
Although literature review studies are available on the application of BCT for SD, however, those studies are limited to a few specific domain likefinance (Fernandez-Vazquez et al., 2019), urban development (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018), energy (Wang and Su, 2020), agriculture (Fenget al., 2020) and supply chain management (Queirozet al., 2019). None of the studies have ever considered the implication of BCT for SD across the domains. Based on the above-mentioned premise, the current study is thefirst of its type, which aims to
identify, maps and synthesize the literature addressing the linkage between SD and BCT through SLR approach.
SLR is a scientific method for analysis, extraction and synthesis of published studies to answer research questions (RQs). Hence, the starting point of SLR have to be RQs, as they set the boundary and guidelines for the SLR (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006). Based on the prospective usefulness of BCT for SD, the following RQs were raised for this study:
RQ1. How can blockchain technology address sustainable development?
RQ2. What research themes are addressed in available studies on the application of blockchain technology for sustainable development?
RQ3. What are the gaps in current research and how those gaps can be addressed by future researchers?
To explore theseRQs, this SLR is distributed intofive sections including introduction. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 elaborated upon the review method;
Section 3 discusses data extraction and synthesis techniques and results of descriptive analysis; in Section 4, the RQs are answered, and Section 5 contains discussion and conclusion.
2. Review method
SLR is an effective approach to report the underexplored issues in existing literature and to signify the future research directions by exploring new research avenues (Queirozet al., 2019). To meet the objectives of SLR, the current study has been carried out using the following steps (Busalim and Hussin, 2016; Kitchenham et al., 2009; Petticrew and Roberts, 2006):
defining review protocol;
literature search strategy;
inclusion and exclusion (I-E) criteria;
full-text scanning and manual search for locating missing studies; and
data extraction and synthesis.
2.1 Review protocol
A detailed review protocol is an essential step in SLR as it describes the process of SLR in advance (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006) and reduces research biasness (Busalim and Hussin, 2016). The review protocol should include the description and rationale for theRQ, search strategy, I-E criteria, quality assessment criteria, synthesis and evaluation of selected studies (Busalim and Hussin, 2016;Petticrew and Roberts, 2006). We have already discussed RQsin Section 1.Figure 1depicts the steps involved in the review protocol.
2.2 Search strategy
The literature search was conducted in two phases–automatic and manual (Busalim and Hussin, 2016). In automatic search, the search string was used to locate the relevant studies.
Non-relevant studies were removed using I-E criteria followed by in-depth analysis of each study, and manual search was used to locate the missing studies.
Thomeet al. (2016)suggests that at least two quality databases should be searched for locating relevant studies and reducing publication biasness. For automatic search, we have
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used Scopus and Web of Science databases (Schaneset al., 2018). As these databases cover a wide variety of quality journal publishers like Emerald, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis and Wiley (Franciosiet al., 2020), hence, there was no further need to search database of each individual publisher.
Figure 1.
Research protocol
Automatic Search
Keywords
“sustainab*” OR “sustainable development”
AND “blockchain *” OR “distributed ledger
*” OR “digital ledger” OR “smart contract”
OR “cryptocurrency” OR “bitcoin”
Database searched - Web of Science
- SCOPUS Total no. of papers = 1277
Removing duplicate studies
(-362)
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
Language (-31)
Total no. of studies = 149
Full text scanning and manual search on 88 studies
by forward and backward search (+8)
Primary studies (automatic search + Manual search) = 157
Data Extraction
Data Synthesis &
Reporting
Source type (-108) Full text not available (-39) Refereed Journals Relevance (-361) SDG Theme (-227)
Afterfinalizing the database, the“keyword”search criteria was used for searching the relevant literature (Thomeet al., 2016). Based on RQs, the following keywords were used for automatic search – sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable growth, sustainable, blockchain, blockchain technology, distributed ledger system, distributed ledger technology (DLT), digital ledger, smart contract, cryptocurrency and bitcoin. The search string was developed using the keywords combined with Boolean operators“AND” and“OR”to allow the search engine to retrieve only the most relevant studies (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006). Thefinal search string used for the automatic search was– “sustained*”OR
“sustainable development” AND “blockchain *” OR “distributed ledger *” OR “digital ledger”OR“smart contract”OR“cryptocurrency”OR“bitcoin”.
The search was not bounded by any time frame; the search string was free to locate studies published in any year; also search string was free to locate the keywords in the full article rather than in title, keywords or abstract.
The automatic search resulted in 1,277 research studies from both databases. Three hundred sixty-two studies were found common in both databases. After removing delicacy, total studies remained were 915 and each study was tested on the parameters of I-E criteria.
2.3 Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Decision related to article selection was based on the I-E criteria. The detailed I-E criteria used for the study (shown inTable 1) is based on the guidelines provided byCasinoet al.
(2019)andLundet al. (2019).
For applying I-E criteria, introduction and conclusion of 915 studies was reviewed (Busalim and Hussin, 2016). It was found that 31 articles were published in language other than English;
108 articles were either call for papers or book reviews or editorial notes; the full text of 39 titles were not available; 361 articles did not meet the relevance criterion and 227 articles were not on SDG themes. Therefore, 149 articles were extracted after applying I-E criteria.
2.4 Full-text scanning and manual search
Full-text scanning of all 149 studies were done, and a manual search criterion was used for identifying missing studies. A manual search was conducted on the basis of citations
Table 1.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Parameter Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
Language Studies published in English language Non-English studies Source type Studies published in the form of books,
book chapter, research articles in refereed journals, review papers, conference proceedings
All other studies except those mentioned in inclusion criteria under source type parameter
Full text available Only those studies whose full text was available
Incomplete studies Refereed journal Articles published in refereed journals
only. Web of Science and Scopus database for automatic search. Google scholar for snowball search
Articles not published in refereed journals
Relevance Studies addressing the use of
characteristics of BCT (distributed ledger, bitcoin, smart contract) for addressing SD
Studies fail to address the use of characteristics of BCT (distributed ledger, bitcoin, smart contract) for addressing SD SDG theme Theme of article should address at least
one of the 17 sustainable development goals proposed by UN in 2015
Theme of article not addressing at least one of the 17 sustainable development goals proposed by UN in 2015
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3. Data extraction and synthesis
The review and synthesis of primary studies was carried out in two phases. In thefirst phase, all 157 primary studies were analysed on the basis of source of publication, year of publication, co-author visualization, keyword visualization and theories/models addressed (Casinoet al., 2019) using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer software.
After descriptive analysis, all primary studies were uploaded on Mendeley, and a review matrix was prepared using the headings shown inTable 2for thematic analysis, methodology classification and gap identification (Busalim and Hussin, 2016;Kitchenhamet al., 2009).
3.1 Publication year overview
While searching articles, time frame of publications was not defined, and the search engine was free to choose the articles right from thefirst article published. Thefirst article identified by automatic and manual search was published in the year 2016, and the last included in this study was published in 2022. Hence, the resultant time frame of current SLR is 2016–2022.
The distribution of the studies over time is shown inFigure 2. The publication data revealed that in 2016 and 2017, there were very less amount of research conducted on BCT
Table 2.
Data extraction from primary studies
Paper ID A unique code assigned to each study (e.g. SB1, SB2 and so on) Author(s) Full name of author(s)
Publication year Year of publication
Domain The domain of the study
Title Title of the study
Source Name of journal or the source of publication
Document type Book chapter, journal article, conference or workshop proceeding, review paper Research theme The theme of the study
Methodology Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, review or conceptual Data collection design Empirical, case study, literature review
Objectives Objectives of the study
Theory The theoretical foundation of the study
Findings Keyfindings of the study
Limitation Limitations of the study
Figure 2.
Year-wise distribution of
primary studies 1 2
11 12
44
56
31
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
and SD, researchers’interest gained momentum in 2018 with 11 publications. In the year 2019, 12 studies got published. The year 2020 total publications in the domain jumped to 44 and continuing the publication pace, the year 2021 shows a record publication of 56 studies.
July 2022 is the concluding period for the timeline of this study, which resulted into 31 studies for the year 2022. The publication trend indicates that the application of BCT for SD is grabbing the attention of researchers, which resulted into continuous growth in terms of number of quality publications each year.
3.2 Publication source overview
Results of Bibliometrix reveal that 157 primary studies were published in 89 journals and conference proceedings. A snapshot of top ten sources of publications is shown inFigure 3. The findings revealed that majority of the primary studies (40) were published in the journal Sustainability (Switzerland) followed by International Journal of Information Management which has publishedfive articles. Other journals publishing articles in the study domain are:
International Journal of Production ResearchandJournal of Cleaner Productionwith four articles each;Annals of Operations Research,IEEE Access,Information Technology for Development, Resources, Conservation and RecyclingandTechnological Forecasting and Social Changewith three articles each. The rest of the journals had published two or one articles.
3.3 Author visualization
The network diagram of 157 primary studies, which were authored by a total of 536 authors, is shown inFigure 4. Authors in the same colour are jointly cited in the primary studies. The list of top 20 most influential authors based on local citations is shown inTable 3. Local citations refer to the citations of authors within the pool of studies considered for the study (Ertz and Leblanc-Proulx, 2018); in our case, it is primary studies. Thefindings ofFigure 4 andTable 4reveals that the authors Zixi Chang, Luona Song, Joseph Sarkis and Chunguang Bai, Rohit Sharma, appear particularly influential.
3.4 Country-wise production of studies
Based on the affiliation of contributing authors, the geographical distribution of papers was prepared using Bibliometrix software (Figure 5). Findings reflect that China and India are
Figure 3.
Publication source overview 0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Sustainability (Switzerland)
International Journal of Information Management
International Journal of Production Research
Journal of Cleaner Production
Annals of Operations Research
IEEE Access Information Technology
for Development
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Technological Forecasting
and Social Change
Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
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the most productive countries followed by Italy and USA.Table 4shows the top ten articles based on the total citation criterion. The paper with maximum citationSaberiet al. (2019) was published in 2019, the year when growth in publications, related to BCT application for SD, picked the momentum. The article ofSaberiet al. (2019)was followed byKshetri (2018) in terms of the second highest number of citations. The ranking of articles changes slightly if we consider total citations per year; however, the articles bySaberiet al. (2019)andKshetri (2018)hold thefirst two positions in both the cases.
Figure 4.
Visualization of authors network
Table 3.
Top 20 most influential authors using citation measure
Author Local citations
Sarkis J. 33
Bai C. 33
Luo Y. 33
Sharma R. 33
Song L. 33
Jin C. 20
Quayson M. 20
Chang Z. 20
Al-Bashayreh M. 17
Al-Oudat M. 17
Almajali D. 17
Altamimi A. 17
Ahmed M.Y. 9
Batra U. 9
Beznosov A.G. 9
Ciruela-Lorenzo A.M. 9
Del-Aguila-Obra A.R. 9
Erdogan S. 9
Padilla-Melendez A. 9
Note:Local citation within primary studies generated through Bibliometrix
3.5 Keyword dynamics
Based on the author’s, keywords the keyword dynamics network diagram was obtained with the help of VOSviewer, shown inFigure 6. In the diagram, the size of circle represents the frequency of the keyword appearing in primary studies and colour indicates the relationship between them (Kumaret al., 2022a). The role of primary keywords shown in larger circles like“blockchain”,“blockchain technology”and“sustainability”is reasonably identifiable. The keywords in smaller circles like“tourism”,“smart city”,“circular economy” and“energy”become the reference point to us for determining the sectors where BCT can be applied for SD.
3.6 Theoretical foundations
Gregor (2006)has defined the following goals of a theory: analysis, explanation, prediction and prescription of the phenomenon of interest. Further,Gregor (2006)has combined these
Table 4.
Top ten articles based on citations Paper details
Total citations
Total citations per year Saberi, S., Kouhizadeh, M., Sarkis, J., Shen, L., 2019. Blockchain technology and
its relationships to sustainable supply chain management. Int. J. Prod. Res. 57,
2117–2135.https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2018.1533261 908 227 Kshetri, N., 2018. 1 Blockchain’s roles in meeting key supply chain
management objectives. Int. J. Inf. Manage. 39, 80–89.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ijinfomgt.2017.12.005 696 139.2
Hughes, L., Dwivedi, Y.K., Misra, S.K., Rana, N.P., Raghavan, V., Akella, V., 2019. Blockchain research, practice and policy: Applications, benefits, limitations, emerging research themes and research agenda. Int. J. Inf. Manage.
49, 114–129.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.02.005 275 68.75 Kamble, S.S., Gunasekaran, A., Sharma, R., 2020. Modeling the blockchain
enabled traceability in agriculture supply chain. Int. J. Inf. Manage. 52.https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.05.023 242 80.67
Cole, R., Stevenson, M., Aitken, J., 2019. Blockchain technology: implications for operations and supply chain management. Supply Chain Manag. An Int. J. 24,
469–483.https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-09-2018-0309 225 56.25
Kouhizadeh, M., Sarkis, J., 2018. Blockchain Practices, Potentials, and Perspectives in Greening Supply Chains. Sustainability 10.https://doi.org/
10.3390/su10103652 198 39.6
Bai, C., Sarkis, J., 2020. A supply chain transparency and sustainability technology appraisal model for blockchain technology. Int. J. Prod. Res. 58,
2142–2162.https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1708989 167 55.67 Sharma, Rohit; Kamble, Sachin S.; Gunasekaran, Angappa; Kumar, Vikas;
Kumar, Anil (2020). A Systematic Literature Review on Machine Learning Applications for Sustainable Agriculture Supply Chain Performance.
Computers & Operations Research.104926–. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2020.104926 138 46 Venkatesh, V.G., Kang, K., Wang, B., Zhong, R.Y., Zhang, A., 2020. System
architecture for blockchain based transparency of supply chain social sustainability. Robot. Comput. Integr. Manuf. 63.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
rcim.2019.101896 128 42.67
Yadav, S., Singh, S.P., 2020. Blockchain critical success factors for sustainable supply chain. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 152.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
resconrec.2019.104505 121 40.33
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goals into five categories: theory for analysing, explaining, predicting, explaining and predicting (EP) and designing and action.
The current SLR result shows that only 26% of primary studies were based on any established theory. All the theories addressed by the primary studies fall into the EP category; as the EP category theories have a testable proposition and a causal explanation of the phenomenon under study (Gregor, 2006).
We found that technology acceptance model (TAM) was the most preferred framework adopted by primary studies followed by social capital theory (SCT).Figure 7 shows the distribution of theories and models used by primary studies. Findings reveal that five primary studies out of 96 were based on TAM model and two on SCT, whereas the rest of the studies were based on a single theory as reported inFigure 7.
3.7 Dimension of sustainability reported in primary studies
The distribution of primary studies based on triple bottom line dimensions indicated that most of the studies (23%) have considered all three dimensions of the triple bottom line, followed by 16% of studies reporting a single dimension “Environment” only. A combination of“Environment and Social”and“Economic and Social”have been considered by 26% of studies (13% in each category). Only“Economic”dimension has been used by 12% of studies, whereas“Social”dimension has been referred in 8% of studies. In total, 1%
of studies were based on“Ecology, Environment and Social”dimension and in 9% of studies Figure 5.
Scientific production by country
sustainability dimension was not clear. The distribution of primary studies on the basis of sustainability dimension is shown inFigure 8.
4. Research question result
RQ1. How can blockchain technology address sustainable development?
Being a widely accepted technology due to its features, BCT has certain limitations. The hazardous impact on the climate is one of the most severe drawback of BCT (Lundet al., 2019).
Figure 6.
Keyword dynamics
Figure 7.
Distribution of theories and models used in primary studies
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Consensus theory Control theory Design science research methodology Innovation diffusion theory McKinsey Seven S’s (7S’s) framework Multi-divisional business model (M-model) Organizational theory Regret theory ReSOLVE model Social capital theory Social consciousness theory social norm theory Social practice theory Social proof theory Stackelberg game theory Technology Acceptance Model The individual theory of consumer behavior Theory of planned behavior Transaction cost theory Value Triangle framework
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Since the BCT is at nascent stage, and we believe that in future, the developers will be able to minimize its limitations. Hence, the current SLR considers only positive facets of BCT. To answerRQ1, the concept of BCT and its key capabilities are required to be understood followed by an in-depth discussion on the linkage between BCT and SD. Hence,RQ1has been answered in three steps–introduction to BCT, key capabilities of BCT and application of BCT for SD.
4.1 Introduction to blockchain technology
A blockchain is a network of blocks that store data; also, each succeeding block is attached with the previous block, and hence a chain of information is being created (Heinrichet al., 2019). The validated information is stored in blocks; each new block containing a new piece of information has its own timestamp, which is linked with the previous block through a cryptographic hash (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018). Hence, an interlinked chain of information gets created (Nikolakiset al., 2018). Blocks, once added to blockchain network, cannot be deleted (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018). Data, once entered into the blocks, are irreversible and not possible to edit or delete (Nakamoto, 2008). Validation of data before placing it into the block is a crucial feature and significant advantage of the blockchain (Heinrichet al., 2019).
To hack or manipulate data of a single block, one must access all previous blocks, as all the blocks in a chain are related with a hash. Hence, hacking a block or manipulating data in the block is almost impossible.
Blockchain depends on nodes. Node can be any electronic device that maintain copies of decentralized distributed ledgers and keeps the entire chain functioning. Each node has its own copy of blockchain (Nakamoto, 2008). Hence, nobody can claim the ownership of the entire blockchain.
In terms of openness and access to data, two popular types of blockchain exist: public and private (Kouhizadeh and Sarkis, 2018). A public blockchain is generally permissionless;
however, private blockchain provides access to a limited group of participants.
BCT can enhance data security, privacy, anonymity, traceability, accountability, integrity, robustness, transparency, trustworthiness and authentication and provide long- term sustainability (Fraga-Lamas and Fernandez-Carames, 2019).
Several characteristics of BCT have been highlighted in primary studies; a summary of those characteristics is discussed below:
4.1.1 Information transparency. Each member of blockchain holds the same copy of digital ledger, which contains the details of all the transactions. The entire history of Figure 8.
Dimension of sustainability addressed in primary studies
13%
13%
16%
Economic Social
Ecological, Environment and Social Not clear
transactions is visible to every single user connected to the blockchain network (Astillet al., 2019;Fuet al., 2018;Kouhizadeh and Sarkis, 2018;Kshetri, 2018).
4.1.2 Trust. In blockchain, the data exchange between nodes requires cryptographic proof instead of third-party authentication or mutual trust (Bai and Sarkis, 2020;França et al., 2020;Kouhizadeh and Sarkis, 2018).
4.1.3 Decentralization.There is no server or mainframe system which controls the entire blockchain. Each node in the chain has equal status and shares the same copy of ledger.
Hence, no one (individual or organization) can claim the ownership of the chain and trust between the parties gets improved as information transparency is attained (Prasharet al., 2020;Wang and Su, 2020;Yadav and Singh, 2020).
4.1.4 Privacy. Using public-key cryptography, blockchain ensures privacy and the available content is accessible to the authorized users only. Also, no single node in the blockchain contains the complete information (Fernandez-Vazquezet al., 2019;Fraga-Lamas and Fernandez-Carames, 2019;Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018).
4.1.5 Data immutability.Data once entered into the blockchain network cannot be edited, modified or deleted, and hence the proof of records remains in the network forever (Ghobakhloo, 2018;Tianet al., 2021;Yadav and Singh, 2020).
4.1.6 Security. Data in blockchain is stored in encrypted form (using asymmetric cryptographic principles), which safeguards it from external and internal attacks. Also, the transmission of data within the blockchain is protected by cryptographic algorithms, which upsurge the security of data during transmissions between the nodes (Queirozet al., 2019;
Tiwariet al., 2021;Zhaoet al., 2020).
Scalability: Scalability makes integration of blockchain without losing data consistency (Yadav and Singh, 2020). Although BCT is a decentralized technology still, it is able to maintain the same rate of transactions per second like a centralized system (Fernandez-Vazquezet al., 2019).
4.2 Blockchain key capabilities
4.2.1 Smart contract.Also known as automatic execution contract, the smart contracts are computer programme codes stored on a blockchain, which verify the contract between two parties digitally (Kimaniet al., 2020). A smart contract is a decentralized code that remains stored on the blockchain and runs autonomously after fulfilling certain pre-defined conditions. The correct code automatically validates the data legally without human intervention (Groveret al., 2019). Smart contracts are used for safe and trustworthy records, transparency in transactions (Fraga-Lamas and Fernandez-Carames, 2019).
4.2.2 Distributed ledger technology.Blockchain is the distributed ledger system which records the data in real-time into different nodes using cryptographic algorithm which ensures the security and privacy of data (Vujicicet al., 2020). These DLT feature ensures the information transparency by tracing transactions from their origin to the destination ensuring data confidentiality, real-time availability and integrity (Fraga-Lamas and Fernandez-Carames, 2019), hence, reduce unsustainable practices (Koet al., 2018).
4.2.3 Cryptocurrency. Nakamoto (2008)advocated the idea of electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof without the involvement of intermediaries. Bitcoin is the popular cryptocurrency that allows real-time transactions among parties without the involvement of banks orfinancial institutions (Françaet al., 2020). Transactions in bitcoin are irreversible once confirmed by the authorities (Kimaniet al., 2020). Adoption of cryptocurrency can be helpful in attaining the following United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDGs) – no poverty, decent work and economic growth (Françaet al., 2020).
Key capabilities of blockchain and the BCT characteristics supported by them are depicted inFigure 9.
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4.3 Application of blockchain technology for sustainable development
Primary studies have highlighted few sectors where BCT can be applied for SD. A brief overview of the identified sector, the challenges faced and BCT solution for overcoming them is discussed inTable 5.
Based on primary studies, 11 sectors were identified on application of BCT for SD. Since BCT is an emerging technology and its adoption for SD has recently started, hence, in future, there will be more studies exploring new sectors and new features of blockchain is quite predictable.
Just like any other new technological adoption, the adoption of BCT is also facing several challenges. The energy required for smooth functioning of entire blockchain network is very high, and hence its carbon footprints are also huge (Lundet al., 2019). Legal adoption of BCT for specific purpose like cryptocurrency has not been approved by government of several nations. Although few countries like Australia, Singapore, Sweden and the UK have already eased the regulations regarding incorporation of BCT, still it is not accepted in majority of the developed and developing nations (Kimaniet al., 2020).
SD has become need of the hour, and its implementation and monitoring require enormous efforts. It would be too optimistic to think BCT as the only solution to monitor sustainable growth;
however, among the technologies that are currently available, BCT has proven to be a worthy solution for SD. Despite of certain limitations of the technology, we are confident that in future, scientists would be able to resolve them and BCT will emerge as a complete solution for SD:
RQ2. What research themes are addressed in available studies on the application of blockchain technology for sustainable development?
A research theme is the central issue or the goal which a research study aims to address (Liang and Turban, 2011). In SLR, themes provide a framework for organizing and reporting the primary studies (Clarke and Braun, 2017). Merely theme identification and study segregation based on themes is not sufficient; the researcher has to draw a timeline showing the growth in publicationvis-a-vis research theme (Tang et al., 2019). Therefore,RQ2 is answered in the following steps:
identifying research themes;
classification of primary studies based on research themes;
year-wise distribution of primary studies addressing research themes;
classification of primary studies based on the type of research; and
creating a mind-map of primary studies based on research themes and research type.
Figure 9.
Blockchain key capabilities
- Privacy - Data
Immutability - Scalability
Source: Created by authors
Sector Challenges in SD BCT solution Smart city Designing and implementing
urban governance** model for smart cities
In smart city, the technology is integrated with infrastructure for information transmission (Jianget al., 2021) and real-time data collection (Allam and Dhunny, 2019). Smart cities are designed to provide enhances version of livability dimensions through cleanliness, pollution control and connectivity of individual with health-care services through technology (Allam and Dhunny, 2019). Hence, smart cities are interaction of human and social capital with an aim to maintain triple bottom line (Jianget al., 2021). Smart contract can significantly contribute to smart city management by enhancing urban governance and establishing new services built on collaboration between machines and humans (Aldribi and Singh, 2022;Allam and Dhunny, 2019)
Smart cities can develop crypto token economic model around crypto currencies (Fadeyiet al., 2020) where Bitcoins can be legally accepted as a payment method. The crypto token economic model creates opportunities for economic alignment, shared interest and coordination between distributed and trustless individuals (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018)
Agriculture Developing a secured food trading system
Agriculture supply chain moves from farmer
(manufacturer of agricultural product) to end consumer.
All the parties involved in supply chain becomes private blockchain network member, and each member can feed their transactions in the system. Through smart contract, each member can interact with other and buying and selling can take place (Antonucciet al., 2019;
Kumaret al., 2022b)
DLT helps in developing a secured food trading system with integrity and transparency in agriculture data.
Data transparency refers to the property of blockchain, which facilitates all the stakeholders to view the data stored in various blocks of the entire chain; if any change in ownership of the physical asset is reported, then blockchain can provide information of present and past owners; this feature is known as data integrity.
Also, BCT reduces the number of intermediaries in the agriculture supply chain and reduces delayed payments and high transaction lead times (Fenget al., 2020) Carbon
trading
Monitoring of trading rights In carbon emission trading market (either credit market or quota market), the trading rights for carbon transactions can be governed through smart contract characteristic of the blockchain (Kim and Huh, 2020) e-Commerce Supply chain visibility and
transparency
Application of DLT in the e-Commerce supply chain can help the supply chain members and focalfirms to check wrong or poor-quality product delivery and unethical dealings with customer and suppliers by creating a transparency in the entire supply chain; which in return reduces the unnecessary logistics movement and hence contribute towards the environment sustainability (Lahkaniet al., 2020)
(continued)
Table 5.
Application of BCT for SD
Blockchain
technology
transparency and anonymity for sustainable banking solution
Also, DLT and smart contract removes third-party authentication, which reduces the overall transaction time and cost
Manufacturing Obtaining real-time information and controlling carbon-emission
DLT helps in achieving real-time transparency and cost savings in the manufacturing industry ensures sustainability (Biet al., 2022;Koet al., 2018). Also, DLT and smart contract helps in controlling carbon emission hence ensuring environment sustainability (Fuet al., 2018)
Circular economy
Green environment and sustainable economy
Making the used product reusable by recycling, remanufacturing and refurbishing to minimize industrial waste, manufacturing and logistics cost and generate revenue, is the philosophy behind the circular economy. Smart contracts can facilitate returning, reusing and recycling activities (Kouhizadehet al., 2019;
Poberezhna, 2018). Use of cryptocurrency will boost the flow of currency in the entire circular economy chain (Françaet al., 2020)
Energy Energy trading The distribution and control of sustainable electric energy through the internet is termed“Energy Internet” (Wu and Tran, 2018). Green energy (electricity generated through photovoltaic panels) production and distribution can be monitored by using DLT. Smart contract can be used for energy trading between prosumers and consumers (Enescuet al., 2020;Liuet al., 2022;Parket al., 2018;Yahayaet al., 2020)
Supply chain and logistics
Order delays, damage to the goods, multiple data entry and sometimes delay in
procurement
DLT and smart contract characteristics of blockchain can be used for data andfinancial exchanges (money transfer) among members of supply chain, tracking of shipments, real-time data monitoring (Zhanget al., 2022), transparency, irreversibility and integrity of supply chain and improved product movement and inventory management and hence sustainability can be ensured (Tijanet al., 2019)
Tourism To create smart and sustainable tourism
A sustainable tourism ecosystem with accountability, responsibility and transparency design principles can be developed though BCT (Lealet al., 2021). Tourists and tourism service providers can use BCT to share information, create itineraries and secured monetary transactions (Erolet al., 2022). Through smart contract tourists can choose local guides. Cryptocurrency can be accepted as currency (Özgit and Adalıer, 2022;Tham and Sigala, 2020)
(continued) Table 5.
Based on an in-depth analysis of primary studies, 13 research themes were identified. Each theme is in line with SDGs of UN. A precise description and scope of identified themes along with the areas of contribution of BCT for SD under specific theme is as follows:
4.3.1 Agriculture and food security.Food requirement of world population is going to increase 100 times by 2050 (Gomieroet al., 2011). Feeding the world population would become very challenging because of limited natural resources like land and water.
Sustainable agriculture could be a possible solution to the increased demand of food and to ensure food security (Antonucciet al., 2019;Songet al., 2022). Smart farming, agro-food trading, food and agriculture supply chain are a few possible aspects of sustainable agriculture.
4.3.2 Education. With the aim to develop smart professional, the focus should be on inclusive and quality education for all (Tiron-Tudoret al., 2021). The focal point of this theme is to understand the role of BCT in education institutes for ensuring sustainable learning (Altamimiet al., 2022).
4.3.3 Water.Water is always considered as a rare resource (Sriyono, 2020). To meet the current and future demand of clean and drinkable water, smart water management through digitization of the water asset is required and BCT can be an effective tool for this task (Poberezhna, 2018). Under this theme, the primary studies addressing the role of BCT in water management are considered.
4.3.4 Business practice and environment sustainability. Business practice can be explained as the process with which thefirm creates, delivers and captures value (Evans et al., 2017). Business value creation without harming the environment can be ensured through technology-enabled environment audits of businesses (Castka et al., 2020). The current theme categorizes primary studies which focus on the role of BCT in green supply chain, technology enhanced auditing, e-vouchers and sustainable tourism.
4.3.5 Business practice and economic sustainability.The theme includes studies related to the application of BCT in the circular economy, FinTech, smart and green logistics, which aims at promoting sustainable economic growth and providing employment to all with decent working conditions.
4.3.6 Business practice and social sustainability.Under this theme, those primary studies are being considered which focus on BCT application for improving relations between B2C, consumer-to-consumer (C2C), protecting workers from exploitation, providing a safe working environment and hence promoting peaceful and inclusive sustainable society.
4.3.7 Sustainable manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing ensures responsible consumption of natural resources for the production of commodities (Leng et al., 2020).
Sector Challenges in SD BCT solution
Public administration
Sustainable administrative reforms in terms of policymaking process, transparency and trust in government
DLT can enhance economic efficiency, security and decentralization in public administration. Further, e- voting can conducted through smart contract, DLT can be used for keeping records of citizens and it also encourages their participation in policymaking; with DLT transparency of taxation can be ensured; with cryptocurrency can be used for payment of utility bills (Myeong and Jung, 2019)
Note:**Urban governance comprises offinancial and contractual transactions between the stakeholders in
smart cities Table 5.
Blockchain
technology
natural resources is the central idea behind this theme (Imaz and Sheinbaum, 2017). The theme includes studies on the application of BCT for sustainable sourcing and production of best quality botanical material used for medicines, health-care products and cosmetics. Also, it includes the primary studies on BCT as a solution to control hazardous impact of shipping industry on marine life.
4.3.10 Policy and government.To meet the requirement of global sustainability, the local government have to become proactive for SD (Saha, 2009). Hence, the local government authorities should integrate SD with strategic planning (Zeemering, 2018) and implement technological solutions to monitor the SD. Based on above premises, the current theme include studies on the application of BCT for e-Governance, administrative reforms in the government sector, non-profit organizations.
4.3.11 Urbanization.With an aim to develop sustainable and resilient cities, the theme includes studies on the application of BCT for urban governance in smart cities to make human settlement inclusive, safe and sustainable.
4.3.12 Energy.To address global climate change issues, more dependency on renewable energy resources and lesser consumption of energy are required (Menzel and Teubner, 2021). The theme focuses on the primary studies addressing BCT application for developing an ecosystem between prosumers and consumers for generation and trade of renewable and sustainable energy.
4.3.13 International development. This theme includes the primary studies which demonstrate the application of BCT for enhancing the evidence and verifiability of product, from origin to manufacturing and beyond, across the supply chain members in case of global supply chains.
Classification of primary studies based on identified research themes (shown inTable 6) reveals that maximum primary studies were published under the theme“Business practice and economic sustainability”followed by the theme“Business practice and environment sustainability”. A dearth of studies was found under the themes: water, education, preservation of natural resources and international development. Studies addressing more than one theme are grouped with all the themes addressed by them.
Year-wise distribution of research theme (Figure 10) shows that during initial years (2016–2017), the focus of researchers was majorly on the theme“business practice and economic sustainability”. However, in the year 2018, “sustainable manufacturing” and
“climate change” grabbed the attention of researchers. The possible reason of this shift could be inclination of industries towards Industry 4.0 and BCT was adopted for SD in manufacturing industry due to its characteristics like real-time transparency, cost savings (Koet al., 2018) and monitoring carbon emission (Fuet al., 2018). A novel Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) model using BCT to improve compliance measure of ETS policy (Fuet al., 2018) for Industry 4.0 was proposed byKhaqqiet al. (2018). The ETS model was adopted by several studies published in 2018.
In 2019, the most explored theme was“business practice and economic sustainability”; also, a new theme“agriculture and food security”gained popularity among researchers. In 2020, two themes became popular– “agriculture and food security”and“business practice
and environment sustainability”. Research studies on all the earlier mentioned themes were found this year also. New themes like“preservation of natural resources”and“policy and government”gained momentum in 2020.
“Agriculture and food security”,“Business practices and, environment and economic sustainability”were the maximum used themes in 2021. There has been a steady growth in publications under the theme “urbanization” since 2018. The theme “Energy” has also become the most exploited theme since 2018. Under this theme, the primary studies have contained case studies on generation of green energy by prosumers and application of BCT
Table 6.
Theme based classification of primary studies
Study theme Reference
Agriculture and food security Alonsoet al. (2020),Antonucciet al. (2019),Astillet al. (2019),Cosentino et al. (2020),Fenget al. (2020),Kambleet al. (2020a),Kambleet al.
(2020b),Kittipanya-ngam and Tan (2020),Klerkx and Rose (2020), Köhler and Pizzol (2020),Lezocheet al. (2020),Prasharet al. (2020), Rogerson and Parry (2020),Smetanaet al. (2021),Tisciniet al. (2020), Kumaret al. (2022b),Wünsche and Fernqvist (2022),Songet al. (2022) Education Villegas-Chet al. (2020),Altamimiet al. (2022)
Water (Poberezhna (2018),Sriyono (2020)
Business practice and environment sustainability
Böckelet al. (2021),Caldarelliet al. (2021),Castkaet al. (2020),Di Vaio and Varriale (2020),Donget al. (2021),Ebinger and Omondi (2020),Erolet al.
(2021),Fadeyiet al. (2020),Farooqueet al. (2020),Issaouiet al. (2021), Kouhizadeh and Sarkis (2018),Kshetri (2018),Lealet al. (2021),Matos et al. (2020),Nuryyevet al. (2020),Öztürk and Yildizbasi (2020),Da Cruz and Cruz (2020),Vujicicet al. (2020),Wonget al. (2020),Zhanget al. (2020) Business practice and economic
sustainability
Andreassenet al. (2018),Bai and Sarkis (2020),Changet al. (2020), Daneseet al. (2021),Di Vaio and Varriale (2020),Donget al. (2021), Ebinger and Omondi (2020),Erolet al. (2021),Fernandez-Vazquezet al.
(2019),Kouhizadehet al. (2019),Kouhizadehet al. (2020),Lealet al.
(2021),Manupatiet al. (2020),Massaroet al. (2020),Nguyen (2016), Öztürk and Yildizbasi (2020),Queirozet al. (2019),Salmeron-Manzano and Manzano-Agugliaro (2019),Tham and Sigala (2020),Tianet al.
(2021),Tiron-Tudoret al. (2021),Varrialeet al. (2021),Violinoet al.
(2019),Violinoet al. (2020),Zamani and Giaglis (2017) Business practice and social
sustainability
Castkaet al. (2020),Di Vaio and Varriale (2020),Erolet al. (2021),Heinrich et al. (2019),Kshetri (2018),Matoset al. (2020),Öztürk and Yildizbasi (2020), Da Cruz and Cruz (2020),Sarkis (2020),Venkateshet al. (2020)
Sustainable manufacturing Acioliet al. (2021),Coleet al. (2019),Fraga-Lamas and Fernandez- Carames (2019),Fuet al. (2018),Ghobakhloo (2018),Koet al. (2018), Lenget al. (2020),Iet al. (2020),Bathalapalliet al. (2022)
Climate change Fuet al. (2018),Hinkes and Peter (2020),Imaz and Sheinbaum (2017), Khaqqiet al. (2018),Kim and Huh (2020),Manupatiet al. (2020),Menzel and Teubner (2021),Poberezhna (2018),Tanet al. (2020),Zhaoet al. (2020) Preservation of natural resources (Hinkes and Peter (2020),Sriyono (2020)
Policy and government Manupatiet al. (2020),Schulzet al. (2020),Shinet al. (2020)
Urbanization Allam and Dhunny (2019),Fadeyiet al. (2020),Françaet al. (2020),Jiang et al. (2021),Oliveiraet al. (2020),Shen and Pena-Mora (2018),Shojaei et al. (2019),Tiwariet al. (2021)
Energy Fadeyiet al. (2020),Lundet al. (2019),Parket al. (2018),Perrons and Cosby (2020),Pumphreyet al. (2020),Wang and Su (2020),Wilkinson et al. (2020),Liuet al. (2022)
International development Nikolakiset al. (2018),Saberiet al. (2019)
Unclear Adamset al. (2018),Hugheset al. (2019),Minet al. (2019),Yadav and Singh (2020)
Blockchain
technology
for energy trading (Pumphreyet al., 2020). The year 2022 (up to July) reflects a strong focus on “agriculture and food security” theme. The theme “Education” has picked up the momentum from 2021, and it is continuing at the same pace in 2022 as well.
4.4 Classification of primary studies based on type of research
Based on the research type criteria defined byPetersenet al. (2008), the primary studies were classified, results shown inTable 7.
A detailed review led us to escalate synthesizing of available information, resulted into a compressed mind map (shown inFigure 10) showing the distribution of studies based on themes and under each theme different types of studies.Figure 11shows that majority of the primary studies (26) are clustered under theme “Business Practice and Economic Sustainability”, sub-themes addressed under this theme are circular economy, insurance, sustainable supply chain, FinTech, smart logistics, green logistics and trade finance innovation. Under the theme,‘Business Practice and Economic Sustainability’, majority of the studies were conceptual studies and review papers, few studies were solution proposal and validation types also. Second majority of primary studies were grouped under the theme
“Business Practice and Economic Sustainability”, which contains the following sub-themes:
green supply chain, technology enhanced auditing, e-vouchers and sustainable tourism. Under this theme also, majority of the studies were either conceptual papers or review papers.
Four primary studies were not addressing any of the stated theme. However, all four studies had passed the I-E criterion, so we cannot remove them. Therefore, they are kept under unclear theme section:
RQ3. What are the gaps in current research and how those gaps can be addressed by future researchers?
BCT application for SD is gaining rapid attention among researchers and practitioners;
however, during the synthesis and evaluation of the primary studies, certain gaps were identified. The identified research gaps are categorized into – theoretical foundation, methodological limitation, research themes and technology implementation challenges.
4.4.1 Theoretical foundation. A theory enables the researcher to measure the phenomenon of interest (Wacker, 1998) as they direct the research towards attaining the Figure 10.
Year-wise distribution of research themes
Agriculture and food security Education
Water Business practice and environment sustainability
Business practice and economic sustainability Business practice and social sustainability
Sustainable manufacturing Climate change
Preservation of natural resources Policy and government
Urbanization Energy
International development Unclear
