Understanding Blockchain Mediated Changes and Tensions for Improving Traceability and Authenticity: The Food Industry Perspective

This study aims to understand how the implementation of blockchain in supply chains to achieve traceability and authenticity (TA) results in tensions and changes. Innovative technology blockchain is argued to enable TA and address various issues in the food supply chain. TA is a critical concern for supply chain networks, particularly the global food industry. Food fraud, information asymmetry, quality assurance, disruptions, counterfeited or contaminated products, tempering, different bacterial outbreaks, recalls, and other illegal practices spread due to lack of TA. While existing literature recognises the potential of blockchain to solve current supply chain issues, the resulting tensions and changes that blockchain can introduce in supply chain activities remain an afterthought. So far, most research is atheoretical and inclined toward how blockchain overcomes existing tensions in supply chain activities and neglects how it brings new tensions by demanding changes. This study empirically investigates the changes and tensions that might emerge in the TA activity of the supply chain network. Drawing on activity theory with in-depth qualitative interviews within organisations deploying blockchain implementation to enable TA in the network, this study develops new theoretical insights on how tensions emerge and how organisations handle the tensions to unfold further changes to achieve TA. Data analysis revealed four major themes. Theme 1 focuses on the evolving categories driving blockchain implementation in the pre-implementation stage and reveals that blockchain implementation motivation is stimulated by three motivation categories including- resolving existing historical tensions, achieving organisational objects and unleashing blockchain benefits and product-centric blockchain implementation motivation. Theme 2 provides insight into emerging changes across all stages and activities with three categories of changes in supply chain activities: preliminary changes, operational changes and subsequent changes. Theme 3 delves into the new tensions arising from blockchain implementation across these stages and activities and points to five categories of tensions. These tensions categories are blockchain technical and data integration tensions, process-related tensions, incongruity-related tensions, governance and compliance-related tensions, and perceived value discrepancy tensions. Finally, Theme 4 categorises findings into solutions for resolving these tensions with two categories of solutions: organisational tensions resolving efforts ad expert recommendations. The research findings make crucial multidisciplinary contributions to the blockchain literature, supply chain and traceability literature, workaround literature, and broadly to information systems literature on technological innovation. This study also makes theoretical contributions to activity theory. From insights on the changes and tensions through blockchain implementation, this study further makes practical contributions to the organisations implementing blockchain for TA, to blockchain providers in designing blockchain solutions, and to policymakers for governing the blockchain.