Theorizing distributed ledger technology - A supply chain management perspective

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a business theoretical foundation for distributed
ledger technology (DLT) in supply chain management. This consists of describing the
theoretical impact of DLT on transaction cost economics, agency theory and network theory
from a SCM perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
We conduct five explorative case studies of five different DLT-based solutions that are
implemented in current supply chains. The authors interrogate DLT providers as well as
users. Based on the empirical data, the authors derive the impact on three major theories in
the field of supply chain management.
Findings
The paper reveals the theoretical impact of DLT on the above-mentioned theories in the field
of SCM. DLT-based solutions reduce the transaction costs and provides new options to
coordinate market solutions better than implied before. Furthermore, in contrast to
existing implications of network theory, DLT benefits from the size of the network as
they reduce the chances for opportunistic behavior and provide more transparency.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is based on findings of early stage applications of DLT in supply chain
management. Thus, theoretical impacts are expected to be added at an advanced stage.
However, at this point of time the article builds a theoretical foundation for future research
on DLT.
Practical implications
The identification of theoretical impacts helps to understand the practical value of DLT in
supply chain management.
Original/value
This is one of the first papers to add a theoretical foundation to DLT research in supply chain
management that is dominated by application-oriented contributions.