Design Principles and Initial Implications for a Sustainability Assessment Approach for Blockchain Applications

In times of numerous global problems, such as the climate crisis, supply chain management has a significant responsibility due to its far-reaching influence. Companies are, therefore, faced with the challenge of making their supply chains more sustainable. One way of achieving this is through dual transformation, which utilizes the interactions between sustainability and digital transformation. Here, blockchain technology is a promising technology. However, there is still a need for research into a holistic picture of the sustainability impact of the technology on supply chains. This paper addresses this by focusing on the sustainability assessment of blockchain-based applications. For this, the design principles that a sustainability assessment should fulfil are examined. A method for design principle development is used for this purpose. Furthermore, a systematic literature search is used to identify existing methods for the sustainability assessment of blockchain-based applications. In total, ten design principles and six assessment methods for blockchain-based applications can be identified and further examined. The results were then used to evaluate the extent to which the existing assessment methods meet the design principles with the aim of designing a new, improved sustainability assessment approach.