An analysis of strategies for adopting blockchain in green supply chains under corporate social responsibility

In recent years, green products have received increasing attention by firms and consumers, but consumers often have uncertainty about the green degree of products. Many firms adopt blockchain technology to solve this problem, but blockchain adoption will bring privacy concerns to consumers. Meanwhile, corporate social responsibility has become one of the hot topics concerned by firms. Based on this, a Stackelberg game model dominated by the manufacturer is constructed to study the strategies of blockchain adoption for green supply chains under corporate social responsibility. The interaction of corporate social responsibility awareness and blockchain adoption in different models is verified through the calculation and simulation analysis of the optimal decision of the supply chain members. The research results show that no matter whether supply chain members have corporate social responsibility awareness, the manufacturer should adopt blockchain technology only when the privacy cost of consumers is low. After blockchain technology is adopted, the profit and utility of retailer, the manufacturer’s utility, consumer surplus, and social welfare will be higher. However, when the manufacturer has corporate social responsibility awareness, the manufacturer’s profit may be damaged by blockchain adoption. In addition, when supply chain members have corporate social responsibility awareness, the manufacturer is more likely to adopt blockchain technology. And with the enhancement of corporate social responsibility awareness, blockchain technology is more likely to be adopted. It provides a reference for the blockchain adoption strategies of the green supply chain under corporate social responsibility.