A Narrative Review and Gap Analysis of Blockchain for Transparency, Traceability, and Trust in Data-Driven Supply Chains
Source abstract
Abstract
The increasing complexity and digitization of modern supply chains have created an urgent demand for transparent, traceable, and trustworthy systems of data management. Blockchain, with its core features of immutability, decentralization, and smart contracts, has emerged as a promising solution for strengthening data-driven supply chain operations. This paper presents a narrative review synthesizing insights from academic research, industry reports, and regulatory documents to examine blockchain’s role in enhancing transparency, traceability, and trust. References were identified through targeted searches of major databases and gray literature sources, with emphasis on diverse sectors and global perspectives, rather than exhaustive coverage. The review maps how blockchain’s technical capabilities—such as data integrity preservation, access control, automated validation, and provenance tracking—support these outcomes, and assesses the empirical indicators used to evaluate them. A sectoral applicability analysis distinguishes contexts in which blockchain adoption offers clear advantages from those where benefits are limited. The review also identifies critical research gaps, including inconsistent definitions of core concepts, insufficient interoperability standards, overreliance on subjective performance measures, and lack of longitudinal cost–benefit evidence. Finally, it proposes directions for future research, including the development of sector-specific adoption frameworks, integration with complementary technologies, and cross-border regulatory harmonization.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Blockchain Technology Applications and Security · Recycling and Waste Management Techniques · Supply Chain and Inventory Management
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Arts, Communications and Social Sciences, School of Arts, Science and Technology, University Canada West, Vancouver, BC V6Z 0E5, Canada
GUS Institute|Global University Systems, London EC1N 2LX, UK
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. Digital transformation in supply chains: Current applications, contributions and challenges
2. Digital transformation and supply chain resilience10.1016/j.iref.2025.104033 ↗
3. Measuring digital transformation maturity of supply chain10.31803/tg-20200414191933 ↗
4. Economic theory and practical impacts of digital transformation in supply chain optimization10.51594/ijae.v6i4.1072 ↗
5. Taherdoost, H., Drazenovic, G., Madanchian, M., Khan, I.U., and Arshi, O. (2024). Business Transformation in the Era of Digital Disruption, IGI Global.10.4018/979-8-3693-7056-8 ↗
6. Tortoise, not the hare: Digital transformation of supply chain business processes10.1016/j.bushor.2019.07.006 ↗
7. Applying six-sigma to supplier development10.1080/1478336042000255596 ↗
8. A survey on relationships and cultural issues in supply chain management practices in Indian organisations
9. Onolaja, O., Bahsoon, R., and Theodoropoulos, G. (July, January 29). Trust dynamics: A data-driven simulation approach. Proceedings of the IFIP International Conference on Trust Management, Copenhagen, Denmark.
10. Sänger, J., Richthammer, C., Hassan, S., and Pernul, G. (2014, January 1–5). Trust and big data: A roadmap for research. Proceedings of the 2014 25th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications, Munich, Germany.10.1109/DEXA.2014.63 ↗
11. Francisco, K., and Swanson, D. (2018). The supply chain has no clothes: Technology adoption of blockchain for supply chain transparency. Logistics, 2.10.3390/logistics2010002 ↗
12. Akyuz, G.A., and Gursoy, G. (2019). Transformation of supply chain activities in blockchain environment. Digital Business Strategies in Blockchain Ecosystems: Transformational Design and Future of Global Business, Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-29739-8_8 ↗
13. Gencer, A.E., van Renesse, R., and Sirer, E.G. (2016). Service-oriented sharding with aspen. arXiv.
14. Grover, P., Kar, A.K., and Vigneswara Ilavarasan, P. (November, January 30). Blockchain for businesses: A systematic literature review. Proceedings of the Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Era: 17th IFIP WG 6.11 Conference on e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society, I3E 2018, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Proceedings 17.
15. Blockchain applications in supply chains, transport and logistics: A systematic review of the literature10.1080/00207543.2019.1650976 ↗
16. Future challenges on the use of blockchain for food traceability analysis10.1016/j.trac.2018.08.011 ↗
17. Chavez, N., Kendzierskyj, S., Jahankhani, H., and Hosseinian, A. (2020). Securing transparency and governance of organ supply chain through blockchain. Policing in the Era of AI and Smart Societies, Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-50613-1_4 ↗
18. Blockchain—A panacea for trust challenges in public services? A socio-technical perspective
19. Bustamante, P., Cai, M., Gomez, M., Harris, C., Krishnamurthy, P., Law, W., Madison, M.J., Murtazashvili, I., Murtazashvili, J.B., and Mylovanov, T. (2022). Government by code? Blockchain applications to public sector governance. Front. Blockchain, 5.10.3389/fbloc.2022.869665 ↗
20. Li, Z.-P., Ceong, H.-T., and Lee, S.-J. (2021). The effect of blockchain operation capabilities on competitive performance in supply chain management. Sustainability, 13.10.3390/su132112078 ↗
21. Blockchain in the logistics sector: A systematic literature review of benefits and constraints10.4102/jtscm.v18i0.1068 ↗
22. Supply chain re-engineering using blockchain technology: A case of smart contract based tracking process10.1016/j.techfore.2019.03.015 ↗
23. Blockchain technology in the food industry
24. Vaishnavi, V., Rajasekar, R., Moganapriya, C., and Kumar, P.S. (2025). Application of Blockchain in the Manufacturing Sector. Blockchain Technology for the Engineering and Service Sectors, Wiley.10.1002/9781394238033 ↗
25. Wei, J., Yi, X., Yang, X., and Liu, Y. (2023). Blockchain-based design of a government incentive mechanism for manufacturing supply chain data governance. Sustainability, 15.10.3390/su15086968 ↗
26. Eletter, S.F., Elrefae, G.A., Yasmin, T., Qasem, A., Alshehadeh, A.R., and Belarbi, A. (2022, January 22–24). Leveraging Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts in the Management of Supply Chain: Evidence from Carrefour UAE. Proceedings of the 2022 International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.10.1109/ACIT57182.2022.9994083 ↗
27. PharmaChain: Blockchain-based drug supply chain provenance verification system10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17957 ↗
28. Ellahi, R.M., Wood, L.C., and Bekhit, A.E.-D.A. (2023). Blockchain-based frameworks for food traceability: A systematic review. Foods, 12.10.3390/foods12163026 ↗
29. Blockchain technology in agriculture: Enhancing supply chain transparency and traceability10.51594/farj.v5i12.1514 ↗
30. Rejeb, A., Rejeb, K., Simske, S., and Keogh, J.G. (2023). Exploring blockchain research in supply chain management: A latent Dirichlet allocation-driven systematic review. Information, 14.10.3390/info14100557 ↗
31. Can blockchain capabilities contribute to sustainable supply-chain governance?10.1109/EMR.2021.3123205 ↗
32. Wang, M., Wang, B., and Abareshi, A. (2020). Blockchain technology and its role in enhancing supply chain integration capability and reducing carbon emission: A conceptual framework. Sustainability, 12.10.3390/su122410550 ↗
33. Mohammed, C.P., and Chopra, S.R. (2023, January 1–3). Blockchain security implementation using Python with NB-IoT deployment in food supply chain. Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Emerging Smart Computing and Informatics (ESCI), Pune, India.10.1109/ESCI56872.2023.10100139 ↗
34. Blockchain technology roles to overcome accounting, accountability and assurance barriers in supply chain finance10.1108/ARA-03-2023-0090 ↗
35. Exploring the Role of Digital Technologies in Enhancing Supply Chain Efficiency: A Case Study of E-Commerce Companies
36. Alotaibi, E.M., Khallaf, A., Abdallah, A.A.-N., Zoubi, T., and Alnesafi, A. (2024). Blockchain-Driven Carbon Accountability in Supply Chains. Sustainability, 16.10.3390/su162410872 ↗
37. Tian, F. (2017, January 16–18). A supply chain traceability system for food safety based on HACCP, blockchain & Internet of things. Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management, Dalian, China.
38. Blockchain technology for transparency in agri-food supply chain: Use cases, limitations, and future directions10.1109/TEM.2021.3110903 ↗
39. Digital technologies for traceability and transparency in the global fish supply chains: A systematic review and future directions10.1016/j.marpol.2025.106700 ↗
40. Keogh, J.G., Rejeb, A., Khan, N., Dean, K., and Hand, K.J. (2020). Optimizing global food supply chains: The case for blockchain and GSI standards. Build. Future Food Saf. Technol., 171–204.10.1016/B978-0-12-818956-6.00017-8 ↗
41. Dave, M., Patil, K., Jaiswal, R., and Pawar, R. (2022, January 13). Monitoring supply chain of pharmaceutical drugs using blockchain. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE Delhi Section Conference (DELCON), New Delhi, India.10.1109/DELCON54057.2022.9753598 ↗
42. Blockchain as a sustainability-oriented innovation?: Opportunities for and resistance to Blockchain technology as a driver of sustainability in global food supply chains10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121403 ↗
43. Application of blockchain technology in shaping the future of food industry based on transparency and consumer trust10.1007/s13197-022-05360-0 ↗
44. Raja Santhi, A., and Muthuswamy, P. (2022). Influence of blockchain technology in manufacturing supply chain and logistics. Logistics, 6.10.3390/logistics6010015 ↗
45. Prashanth, M.S., Aluvalu, R., and Kantipudi, M. (2025, July 01). Enhancing Health Product Traceability on the Blockchain: A Novel Approach for Supply Chain Management inspection to AI. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology. Available online: https://publications.eai.eu/index.php/phat/article/view/5544.10.4108/eetpht.10.5544 ↗
46. Blockchain-based governance implications for ecologically sustainable supply chain management10.1108/JEIM-02-2022-0055 ↗
47. Blockchain for SME Clusters: An ideation using the framework of Ostrom Commons Governance10.1007/s10796-022-10288-z ↗
48. Mostafa, Q., and Houssaini, A. (2022, January 25–27). Blockchain: An ambitious technology for managing SCM. Proceedings of the 2022 14th International Colloquium of Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LOGISTIQUA), El Jadida, Morocco.10.1109/LOGISTIQUA55056.2022.9938072 ↗
49. Perceived usefulness, ease of use and user acceptance of blockchain technology for digital transactions–insights from user-generated content on Twitter10.1080/17517575.2019.1599446 ↗
50. Ali, S., Armand, T.P.T., Athar, A., Hussain, A., Ali, M., Yaseen, M., Joo, M.-I., and Kim, H.-C. (2023). Metaverse in healthcare integrated with explainable AI and blockchain: Enabling immersiveness, ensuring trust, and providing patient data security. Sensors, 23.10.3390/s23020565 ↗
51. Blockchain technology for bridging trust, traceability and transparency in circular supply chain10.1016/j.im.2021.103508 ↗
52. Blockchain-based distributed trust and reputation management systems: A survey10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2969820 ↗
53. Mapping the potentials of blockchain in improving supply chain performance10.1080/23311975.2020.1788329 ↗
54. A survey on blockchain for enabling transparency in transactions of government direct benefit transfers (DBT)
55. Social media, knowledge sharing, and innovation: Toward a theory of communication visibility10.1287/isre.2014.0536 ↗
56. Blockchain-based transparency framework for privacy preserving third-party services
57. Luce: A blockchain-based data sharing platform for monitoring data license accountability and compliance10.1016/j.bcra.2022.100102 ↗
58. Blockchain integration in SAP for supply chain transparency10.55544/ijrah.4.6.22 ↗
59. Toward an ontology-driven blockchain design for supply-chain provenance
60. Garbage in garbage out: The precarious link between IoT and blockchain in food supply chains
61. Frankó, A., Vida, G., and Varga, P. (2020). Reliable identification schemes for asset and production tracking in industry 4.0. Sensors, 20.10.3390/s20133709 ↗
62. Transparency with blockchain and physical tracking technologies: Enabling traceability in raw material supply chains
63. Westerkamp, M., Victor, F., and Küpper, A. (August, January 30). Blockchain-based supply chain traceability: Token recipes model manufacturing processes. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things (iThings) and IEEE Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom) and IEEE Cyber, Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom) and IEEE Smart Data (SmartData), Halifax, NS, Canada.10.1109/Cybermatics_2018.2018.00267 ↗
64. Traceability in food processing: Problems, methods, and performance evaluations—A review10.1080/10408398.2020.1825925 ↗
65. Building trust in economic space10.1191/0309132506ph617oa ↗
66. Procurement effects on trust and control in client-contractor relationships10.1108/09699980710760694 ↗
67. Blockchain as a confidence machine: The problem of trust & challenges of governance10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101284 ↗
68. Brokerbot: A cryptocurrency chatbot in the social-technical gap of trust10.1007/s10606-021-09392-6 ↗
69. Wright, A., and Ehnert, I. (2010). Making sense of trust across cultural contexts. Organizational Trust: A Cultural Perspective, Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511763106.005 ↗
70. Chopra, A.K., Paja, E., and Giorgini, P. (31–3, January 31). Sociotechnical trust: An architectural approach. Proceedings of the International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, Brussels, Belgium.
71. Trust-based specification of sociotechnical systems10.1016/j.datak.2012.12.005 ↗
72. Kerschbaum, F. (2011, January 11–13). Public-key encrypted Bloom filters with applications to supply chain integrity. Proceedings of the IFIP Annual Conference on Data and Applications Security and Privacy, Richmond, VA, USA.10.1007/978-3-642-22348-8_7 ↗
73. Blockchain-enabled supply chain: An experimental study10.1016/j.cie.2019.07.026 ↗
74. Ngamsuriyaroj, S., Likittheerameth, T., Kahutson, A., and Pathummasut, T. (2018, January 11–3). Package delivery system based on blockchain infrastructure. Proceedings of the 2018 Seventh ICT International Student Project Conference (ICT-ISPC), Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.10.1109/ICT-ISPC.2018.8523944 ↗
75. Blockchain based secured information sharing protocol in supply chain management system with key distribution mechanism
76. Koirala, R.C., Dahal, K., and Matalonga, S. (2019, January 10–11). Supply chain using smart contract: A blockchain enabled model with traceability and ownership management. Proceedings of the 2019 9th International Conference on Cloud Computing, Data Science & Engineering (Confluence), Noida, India.10.1109/CONFLUENCE.2019.8776900 ↗
77. Shetty, S., Liang, X., Bowden, D., Zhao, J., and Zhang, L. (2018). Blockchain-based decentralized accountability and self-sovereignty in healthcare systems. Business Transformation Through Blockchain: Volume II, Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-99058-3_5 ↗
78. Figueroa, S., Añorga, J., and Arrizabalaga, S. (2019). An attribute-based access control model in RFID systems based on blockchain decentralized applications for healthcare environments. Computers, 8.10.3390/computers8030057 ↗
79. A blockchain-empowered access control framework for smart devices in green internet of things10.1145/3433542 ↗
80. Multiauthority Attribute-Based Access Control for Supply Chain Information Sharing in Blockchain
81. Thantharate, P., and Thantharate, A. (2023). ZeroTrustBlock: Enhancing security, privacy, and interoperability of sensitive data through ZeroTrust permissioned blockchain. Big Data Cogn. Comput., 7.10.3390/bdcc7040165 ↗
82. RiceChain-Plus: An enhanced framework for blockchain-based rice supply chain systems-ensuring security, privacy, and efficiency10.7717/peerj-cs.2926 ↗
83. Fortified-chain: A blockchain-based framework for security and privacy-assured internet of medical things with effective access control10.1109/JIOT.2021.3058946 ↗
84. Blockchain-based supply chain traceability for COVID-19 personal protective equipment10.1016/j.cie.2022.107995 ↗
85. Blockchain technology for disaster and refugee relief operations10.1017/S1049023X1900222X ↗
86. Yang, C., and Sun, Z. (2020, January 20). Data management system based on blockchain technology for agricultural supply chain. Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Data Mining Workshops (ICDMW), Sorrento, Italy.10.1109/ICDMW51313.2020.00130 ↗
87. Enhancing vendor managed inventory supply chain operations using blockchain smart contracts10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3028031 ↗
88. Blockchain-based smart tracking and tracing platform for drug supply chain10.1016/j.cie.2021.107669 ↗
89. Smart contract-based agricultural food supply chain traceability10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3050112 ↗
90. Smart contract-based product traceability system in the supply chain scenario10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2935873 ↗
91. Intelligent traceability system of containerized goods10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.309.241 ↗
92. Karan, E.P., and Irizarry, J. (2014, January 19–21). Developing a spatial data framework for facility management supply chains. Proceedings of the Construction Research Congress 2014: Construction in a Global Network, Atlanta, Georgia.10.1061/9780784413517.239 ↗
93. Applying Blockchain to Supply Chain Operations at IBM Implementing Agile Practices in a Smart City Environment10.13053/rcs-147-2-5 ↗
94. Blockchain technology-enabled supply chain systems and supply chain performance: A resource-based view10.1108/SCM-12-2019-0444 ↗
95. Blockchain for transparent and secure supply chain management in renewable energy10.53771/ijstra.2022.3.1.0103 ↗
96. Exploring the current status and future opportunities of blockchain technology adoption and application in supply chain management10.1016/j.jdec.2024.01.005 ↗
97. Awan, U., Kraslawski, A., and Huiskonen, J. (2018). Governing interfirm relationships for social sustainability: The relationship between governance mechanisms, sustainable collaboration, and cultural intelligence. Sustainability, 10.10.3390/su10124473 ↗
98. The effects of transparency regulation on political trust and perceived corruption: Evidence from a survey experiment10.1111/rego.12555 ↗
99. Smart Contracts and IoT Based Blockchain Framework for Decentralized Monitoring of Dairy Supply Chain Operations
100. Enhancing transparency and traceability in supply chain management through blockchain integration