Circularity issues and blockchain technology in the auto industry

ABSTRACT

The integration of circular economy and Industry 4.0 components like blockchain technology results in a faster induction of ‘circularity’ and leads to new strategies on resource utilization, making the world more sustainable. It is a ‘key-enabler’ in meeting tomorrow’s circularity challenges. Literature revealed research gaps in a yet unexplored area of how ‘circularity’ building gets impacted by blockchain, especially in the Indian auto sector. Moreover, the nonavailability of its evaluation tool also necessitated present research. The main objective was to explore, from the auto stakeholders’ perception viewpoints, the potential of the application of blockchain technology with special reference to the issue of ‘sustainability and circularity’ in the Indian context. The study involved a literature search, building a new circular economy-based blockchain model for the auto industry, and, finally, a case study in which the hypotheses about circularity and blockchain technology nexus impacts on the Indian auto industry were structured and tested through a research instrument, designed and sent to 45 auto stakeholders for evaluation of the said nexus. The data analyzed through the Best-Worst method revealed the ‘potential’ (weight: 0.393) and ‘application’ (weight: 0.262) impacts on CE are the most important yardsticks. The proposed model appears to be more reliable and secure and might help the managers of auto firms in forging new circularity-based strategies to exploit I4.0 efficiently.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Circular economy
• industry 4.0
• blockchain technology
• auto industry
• best worst method

Highlights

• The paper explores the perception of the Indian auto stakeholders on the impact of blockchain technology in the circular economy context.

• A new circular economy-blockchain model and a case study based on BWM are presented.

• Data analysis revealed ‘potential’ as the most and ‘barriers’ as the least important impacts.

• Proposed model appears to be reliable and secure.

• Findings might help the future planners of blockchain technology in the auto industry.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Syed Wasiul Hasan Rizvi

Syed Wasiul Hasan Rizvi is currently a PhD scholar at Delhi Technological University (DTU) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. E-Mail id: [email protected]

Saurabh Agrawal

Saurabh Agrawal is Associate Professor in Delhi School of Management, DTU, Delhi, India. E-Mail ID: [email protected]

Qasim Murtaza

Qasim Murtaza is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, DTU, Delhi, India. E-Mail ID: [email protected]