The food supply chain in South Africa faces significant challenges related to transparency, traceability, and consumer trust. As concerns about food safety, quality, and sustainability grow, there is an increasing need for innovative solutions to address these issues. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising tool to enhance transparency and accountability across various industries, including the food sector. This study sought to explore the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing through promoting transparency that enable the achievement of sustainable food supply chain infrastructure in South Africa. The study found that blockchain technology used in food supply chain creates an immutable and decentralized ledger of transactions that has the capacity to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility of food products from farm to table. This increased transparency can help mitigate risks associated with food fraud, contamination, and inefficiencies in the supply chain. The study found that blockchain technology can be leveraged to enhance supply chain efficiency and trust among stakeholders. This technology used and/or applied in South Africa can reshape the agricultural sector by improving production and distribution processes. Its integration in the food supply chain infrastructure can equally improve data management and increase transparency between farmers and food suppliers.There is need for policy-makers and scholars in the fields of service delivery and food security to conduct more research in blockchain technology and its roles in creating a more transparent, efficient, and trustworthy food supply chain infractructure that address food supply problems in South Africa. The paper adopted a qualitative methodology to collect data, and document and content analysis techniques were used to interpret collected data.
The interest in smart grids and new technologies is growing around the world. Countries are investing in the development of new technologies that will help achieve environmental goals, energy supply efficiency, improve energy efficiency and increase consumer involvement in the energy generation. One of such technology is a blockchain. It is believed that the blockchain, combined with a smart grid, provides an opportunity to integrate the activities of all stakeholders, including: generators, distributors and consumers of electricity. The aim of the article is to identify the key research areas discussed by the researchers of both the smart grid and the blockchain issues. An analysis of the Scopus database from 2015 to 2023 was conducted. Using a created bibliometric query, a systematic literature review was conducted. 476 scientific publications relating to the issues addressed were identified. Using the VOSviewer software, a bibliometric analysis was performed using the author’s keywords. The bibliometric maps obtained allowed for the identification of key research areas. The article also presents potential future directions of scientific considerations, which should be focused on the issue of green smart grid and green blockchain. The results presented in the article can inspire researchers looking for research gaps or describing the current state of knowledge in the field of the smart grid and the blockchain issues.
Blockchain technology has increasingly attracted the attention of the financial service sector, customers, and investors because of its distinctive characteristics, such as transparency, security, reliability, and traceability. The paper is based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The study comprehended the literature and the theories. It deployed the technology-organization-environment (TOE) model to consider technological, organizational, and environmental factors as antecedents of blockchain adoption intention. The paper contributes to blockchain literature by providing new insights into the factors that affect the intention to adopt blockchain technology. A theoretical model incorporates antecedents of blockchain adoption intention to direct an agenda for further investigations. Researchers can use the model proposed in this study to test the antecedents of blockchain adoption intention empirically.
Blockchain technology is poised to significantly transform the corporate world, heralding a new era of innovation and efficiency. Over the past few years, its impact has been noted by leaders, academics, and government representatives around the globe this growing interest underscores businesses’ need to evolve and reconsider traditional operational models. To remain competitive, organizations must embrace this change. Before introducing such ground-breaking technology, it is crucial to assess the motivations of primary stakeholders concerning its implementation. This study looks into what influences the use of Blockchain technology in the oil and gas sector, primarily using a quantitative survey of Iraqi oil and gas companies. A questionnaire was distributed among 250 top-level managers, senior executives, project managers, and IT managers for analyzing the data, the study employs the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) technique, with Smart PLS for data processing. The findings suggest that the intention to utilise blockchain technology is influenced by one’s attitude towards it. Competitive pressure (environmental factors), functional benefit, and privacy/security (technological factors) significantly affect blockchain adoption intention. Nevertheless, there was no discernible correlation between regulatory backing and the desire to use Blockchain. Additionally, cost concern and perceived risk (organizational factors) two factors contribute negatively to the perception of blockchain technology. Besides the direct relationship, the findings revealed that attitude toward blockchain technology mediate the relationship between cost concern, perceived risk, and intention to adopt Blockchain. Built upon the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) model and the Theory of Reasoned Action, this research offers a comprehensive framework for investigating the intention to adopt blockchain technology. The results enhance both theoretical understanding and practical implementation by providing valuable insights into the emerging area of blockchain adoption intentions.
The rapid expansion of smart cities has led to the widespread deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices for real-time data collection and urban optimization. However, these interconnected systems face critical cybersecurity risks, including data tampering, unauthorized access, and privacy breaches. This paper proposes a blockchain-based framework designed to enhance the security, integrity, and resilience of IoT data in smart city environments. Leveraging a private blockchain, the system ensures decentralized, tamper-proof data storage, and transaction verification through digital signatures and a lightweight Proof of Work consensus mechanism. Smart contracts are employed to automate access control and respond to anomalies in real time. A Python-based simulation demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness in securing IoT communications. The system supports rapid transaction validation with minimal latency and enables timely detection of anomalous patterns through integrated machine learning. Evaluations show that the framework maintains consistent performance across diverse smart city components such as transportation, healthcare, and building security. These results highlight the potential of the proposed solution to enable secure, scalable, and real-time IoT ecosystems for modern urban infrastructures.
Copyright © by EnPress Publisher. All rights reserved.