A Quantitative and Qualitative Review of Blockchain Research from 2015 to 2021

Xiaolin Li (), Hongbo Jiao, Liming Cheng, Yilin Yin, Huimin Li, Wenqing Mu and Ruirui Zhang
Additional contact information
Xiaolin Li: Department of Construction Engineering and Management, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Hongbo Jiao: Department of Construction Engineering and Management, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Liming Cheng: Department of Construction Engineering and Management, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Yilin Yin: School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China
Huimin Li: Department of Construction Engineering and Management, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Wenqing Mu: The First Institute of Resources and Environment Investigation of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450000, China
Ruirui Zhang: The First Institute of Resources and Environment Investigation of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450000, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Blockchain has the potential to reconfigure the contemporary economic, legal, political and cultural landscape, causing a flood of research on this topic. However, limited efforts have been made to conduct retrospective research to appraise the blockchain studies in the recent period, easily leading to a neglect of new technological trends. Consequently, the present research designs a quantitative- and qualitative-analysis procedure to review the latest research status. Adopting a four-step workflow, six research hotspots (i.e., the specific application areas of blockchain technology, the integration of blockchain and other technologies, the driving factors of blockchain, the values of blockchain technology, the types of blockchain and the core technologies of blockchain) and five research frontiers (i.e., entrepreneurship, contract, industrial internet, data management and distributed ledger technology) were detected using quantitative analysis. Furthermore, three other topics (i.e., the Internet of things, access control and trust) and two research gaps (i.e., the true effect of blockchain technology on firms’ operational efficiency and the regulation of the “dark sides” of blockchain technology) were also identified, using qualitative analysis. Finally, the evolutionary paths were qualitatively analyzed, and then three phases of blockchain research were summarized. The conclusions are able to provide a more comprehensive enlightenment regarding blockchain’s research hotspots, research frontiers, evolutionary paths and research gaps in the recent period, from 2015 to 2021, and to provide a reference for future research.

Keywords: blockchain; cryptography; smart contract; distributed storage; consensus mechanism; visualized analysis (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/2071-1050/15/6/5067/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5067/ (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:6:p:5067-:d:1095824

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 ().