Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine if blockchain-supported carbon offset information provision and shipping options with different cost and environmental footprint implications impact consumer perceptions toward retailers and logistics service providers. Blockchain and carbon neutrality, each can be expensive to adopt and complex to manage, thus getting the “truth” on decarbonization may require additional costs for consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Experimental modeling is used to address these critical and emergent issues that influence practices across a set of supply chain actors. Three hypotheses relating to the relationship between blockchain-supported carbon offset information and consumer perceptions and intentions associated with the product and supply chain actors are investigated.

Findings

The results show that consumer confidence increases when supply chain carbon offset information has greater reliability, transparency and traceability as supported by blockchain technology. The authors also find that consumers who are provided visibility into various shipping options and the product's journey carbon emissions and offset – from a blockchain-supported system – they are more willing to pay a premium for both the product and shipping options. Blockchain-supported decarbonization information disclosure in the supply chain can lead to organizational legitimacy and financial gains in return.

Originality/value

Understanding consumer action and sustainable consumption is critical for organizations seeking carbon neutrality. Currently, the literature on this understanding from a consumer information provision is not well understood, especially with respect to blockchain-supported information transparency, visibility and reliability. Much of the blockchain literature focuses on the upstream. This study focuses more on consumer-level and downstream supply chain blockchain implications for organizations. The study provides a practical roadmap for considering levels of blockchain information activity and consumer interaction.

中文翻译：

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通过区块链向消费者提供供应链碳透明度：真相是否有害？

目的

本研究的目的是确定区块链支持的碳抵消信息提供和具有不同成本和环境足迹影响的运输选择是否会影响消费者对零售商和物流服务提供商的看法。区块链和碳中和的采用成本高昂且管理复杂，因此了解脱碳的“真相”可能需要消费者付出额外的成本。

设计/方法论/途径

实验建模用于解决这些影响供应链参与者实践的关键和紧急问题。研究了与区块链支持的碳抵消信息与消费者对产品和供应链参与者相关的认知和意图之间关系的三个假设。

发现

结果表明，当供应链碳抵消信息在区块链技术的支持下具有更高的可靠性、透明度和可追溯性时，消费者的信心就会增加。作者还发现，通过区块链支持的系统，消费者可以了解各种运输选项以及产品旅程中的碳排放和补偿，他们更愿意为产品和运输选项支付溢价。区块链支持的供应链脱碳信息披露可以带来组织合法性和财务收益作为回报。

原创性/价值

了解消费者行为和可持续消费对于寻求碳中和的组织至关重要。目前，关于消费者信息提供的这种理解的文献还没有得到很好的理解，特别是在区块链支持的信息透明度、可见性和可靠性方面。许多区块链文献都集中在上游。这项研究更多地关注消费者层面和下游供应链区块链对组织的影响。该研究为考虑区块链信息活动和消费者互动的水平提供了实用的路线图。