Blocking blockchain: Examining the social, cultural, and institutional factors causing innovation resistance to digital technology in seafood supply chains

Abstract

Digital technologies such as blockchain, smart contracts, QR codes, and fintech are forecast to improve the transparency, sustainability, and efficiency of supply-chains in numerous sectors. However, such innovations may face greater resistance and implementation challenges in some sectors more than others. Here, we conduct 24 interviews with fishers, aquaculturists, restaurants, and industry experts around existing blockchain applications seeking to enhance seafood traceability and trackability in Australia. We combine innovation resistance theory, principal-agent theory, and the theory of planned behaviour to reveal how institutional norms and socio-cultural dynamics are deterring blockchain adoption. For example, the seafood industry exhibits limited digitization and automation, and an oligopoly of wholesalers with the power and networks to control the supply chain – against a backdrop of food fraud claims. Results suggest blockchain could threaten the competitive advantage of wholesalers, since it would reverse existing asymmetries around trade, price, and provenance information. Furthermore, despite favouring the decentralisation and information sharing that blockchain provides, other supply chain actors were hesitant to adopt it through fear of jeopardising relationships with these wholesalers upon which their business models rely. We assert that blockchain will only drive transformative change if the most influential supply chain actors see value in using it.