Proposing a new LSGDM framework based on BWM with hesitant fuzzy information for prioritizing blockchain adoption barriers in supply chain

Abstract

Due to the vast advantages of Blockchain technology, especially transparency of information and the ability to track transactions, this technology has been considered in several areas, including supply chain management (SCM). However, due to the emergence of this technology, numerous barriers and limitations have hindered its use. Due to the special conditions of developing countries (such as Iran), there is still a need for independent research to localize these barriers in these countries. On the other hand, most of the research has focused more on identifying barriers and less on prioritizing them. Examining the specific features of the Blockchain technology field shows that there is a need to provide a decision-making framework based on large-scale group decision-making methods (LSGDM), which, in addition to simultaneously paying attention to the advantages of previous approaches (including the participation of different groups of stakeholders; the consensus reaching process (CRP) as well as the uncertainty and doubt of the stakeholders in the evaluations), can increase the applicability of the method by reducing the number of pairwise comparisons. Therefore, while identifying and localizing the list of barriers in Iran, the LSGDM method along with the proposed consensus framework can be used to aggregate the opinions between the experts in a network and create a relative consensus between them. The use of hesitant fuzzy (HF) sets has made it possible to model the uncertainty and hesitancy in the opinions of experts. Also, using the Best-Worst method (BWM) instead of the pairwise comparison approach between all criteria, has reduced the number of pairwise comparisons and provided other advantages such as reduced inconsistency and higher reliability. The results of applying this framework in Iran showed that lack of awareness and customer orientation, scalability and lack of management participation and support are the main barriers to the implementation of the blockchain for SCM in this developing country. The results can help decision makers and policy makers in this area to plan more accurately.