Implications of Blockchain and Transparency for Business Sustainability: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Purpose: Blockchain protocol comprises several attributes, among which transparency stands out. In this vein, the purpose of this article is to advance research on the implications of transparency (as derived from the use of blockchain) for business sustainability (BS). Originality/value: There is continuing interest in applying blockchain for creating and improving transparency, with this latter representing a strategic asset in BS. However, despite advancing this subject, the literature still lacks studies that explain the organizational circumstances in which blockchain can enable progress on transparency in the scope of BS. Design/method/approach: The methodology involved an integrative literature review on blockchain, transparency, and BS, and it was conducted with the support of Web of Science and Scopus to attend the research objective. Findings: The results favored the proposal of two analytical frameworks: one refers to the concepts of blockchain and transparency presented by the academic literature, and the other to the benefits of blockchain and transparency for the economic, social, and environmental BS dimensions. Furthermore, discussions involved deducing propositions about the use of blockchain to improve transparency in the BS context. The propositions open future research directions to studies that aim to test them qualitatively or quantitatively.