Provenance-related applications of blockchain technology to enable circular economy in the construction industry
| 
Abstract
1. PURPOSE This study aims to explore the potential implications that provenance-related applications of blockchain technology (BT) may have in assisting to overcome the most prominent barriers to the adoption of circular economy (CE) in the construction industry. This research firstly identifies the most common barrier/challenge taxonomies that the construction industry is experiencing in order to adopt CE, to later understand what role can BT play in enabling circular processes, and finally explore the benefits that the employment of BT will have in the linear-to-circular paradigm shift.
2. METHODOLOGY The study reviews extensively the literature around the application of CE practices into the construction industry. By doing this research effort, the most important barrier taxonomies to the application of CE in this sector are identified. In a second phase, this research adopts an explorative approach and performs qualitative analysis of a serial of in-depth interviews with industry professionals and blockchain specialists in order to obtain expert information on the topic under investigation. In the first place, these in-depth interviews allow authors to confirm the most prominent barrier taxonomies to CE adoption which were previously identified in the literature. Secondly, we obtain experts’ perspectives on how the provenance-related applications of BT can be targeted towards overcoming these identified taxonomies. Finally, the detailed analysis of interview transcripts will be employed for the development of a comprehensive framework which interrelates the fundamental blockchain properties and how each identified CE adoption barrier taxonomy may be surmounted.
3. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS The most prominent barrier taxonomies for CE adoption in the construction sector that were identified throughout literature review were: (1) financial/economic barriers – increased costs of adoption entailing high upfront investment and lack of supply and demand for recovered materials [Charef et al. 2021], [Wuni 2022], [Osei-Tutu et al. 2023], [Oluleye et al. 2023]; (2) political/regulatory barriers – lack of regulatory frameworks or appropriate policies – [Bilal et al. 2020], [Charef et al. 2021], [Wuni 2022], [Oluleye et al. 2023]; (3) organisational barriers – difficulty of changing work methods and managing the adequate teamwork and multidisciplinary approach – [Wuni 2022], [Osei-Tutu et al. 2023], [Oluleye et al. 2023]; (4) social barriers – resistance behaviour to change, lack of trust, and lack of awareness on environmental impact of polluted waste and virgin feedstock – [Bilal et al. 2020], [Charef et al. 2021], [Osei-Tutu et al. 2023]; (5) technical/knowledge barriers – lack of information on construction materials composition and lack of knowledge on CE practices – [Charef et al. 2021], [Wuni, 2022], [Osei-Tutu et al. 2023]; and (6) environmental barriers – the use of non-recoverable materials and lack of protection on waste management [Bilal et al. 2020], [Charef et al. 2021], [Osei-Tutu et al. 2023]. Having identified these key barrier taxonomies, this study expects to collect relevant qualitative information from the ongoing interviews to discover and unleash the potential of BT for CE adoption, as well as how provenance-related applications can be targeted specifically to each of these core barrier taxonomies. Posteriorly, our research will connect the findings by proposing a framework to summarise and organise the current knowledge on the potential of BT provenance-related applications to enable CE processes in the construction industry.
4. CONCLUSION The research aims to extend the body of knowledge by comprehensively expanding the scope of research regarding the implementation of provenance-related applications of BT to mitigate the CE adoption barriers within the construction industry. The literature revealed a set of key barriers throughout research and the interviews will manifest how provenance-related applications of BT can be employed to overcome these prominent barriers. Posteriorly, a framework will be generated based on the findings of the study to motivate further research around the use provenance-related blockchain applications to overcome barriers to the adoption of CE. Likewise, this study pursues to provide a set of managerial recommendation with the objective of instructing practitioners and professionals from the construction industry on how on how to leverage from BT and successfully implement provenance-related applications in the path towards a more sustainable construction industry.
