Pricing Decision of Three-Level Agricultural Supply Chain Based on Blockchain Traceability and Altruistic Preference

Tao Li, Xiaotong Xu, Weirong Liu () and Chengdong Shi
Additional contact information
Tao Li: Business School, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255000, China
Xiaotong Xu: Business School, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255000, China
Weirong Liu: National Demonstration Center for Experimental Modern Circulation Education, Shanghai Business School, Shanghai 201400, China
Chengdong Shi: Business School, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255000, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: The traceability of blockchain is crucial to the quality and safety of agricultural products, primarily when bacterial contamination occurs in the agricultural supply chain. To gain a deeper understanding of the impacts on the quality and safety of agricultural products, we built a three-level agricultural supply chain model comprising one retailer, one manufacturer, and one supplier. We aimed to explore the impact of blockchain traceability and retailers’ altruistic preference on pricing decisions and channel member profit, and to then examine the motivation of enterprises to participate in blockchain technology. Our study showed that: (1) blockchain technology has the potential to improve the prices and profits of supply chain members without considering the cost of blockchain; and (2) blockchain technology has the potential to improve the retailer’s price when the unit variable cost of blockchain is higher than a certain threshold. It can also reduce the manufacturer’s price and the supplier’s output. However, the excessive cost of blockchain can also aggravate the double marginalization effect of the supply chain. When both the unit variable cost and the fixed input cost of the blockchain are low, each enterprise has the incentive to participate in the blockchain. (3) In the scenario of the altruistically-preferred retailer, when the blockchain variable cost is lower than a certain threshold, the retailer’s altruistic preferences can improve the manufacturer’s and supplier’s profit, but it will reduce the retailer’s profit.

Keywords: blockchain; agricultural supply chain; bacterial contamination; pricing decision (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3304/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3304/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3304-:d:1064973

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().