Sustainable Digital Transformation in Manufacturing: Blockchain, Supply Chain Collaboration, and Green Innovation Outcomes
Main article
Abstract
This article examines how blockchain-enabled digital transformation can be converted into measurable green innovation outcomes through supply chain collaboration. Building on systems thinking, dynamic capabilities, and resource orchestration, the study develops an integrated framework in which blockchain application enhances interorganizational visibility, data integrity, and collaborative resource bundling, while digital trust and task complexity condition the strength of this conversion process. To provide a transparent empirical illustration without relying on restricted proprietary firm surveys, we construct a synthetic but literature-calibrated dataset representing 428 Chinese manufacturing firms in environmentally sensitive sectors. Using structural regression, mediation tests, and interaction analysis, we find that blockchain application has a positive indirect effect on green innovation outcomes through supply chain collaboration; digital trust amplifies the positive path from blockchain application to collaboration, whereas task complexity weakens it. In addition, a green digital learning orientation strengthens the link between collaboration and green innovation outcomes. The simulated effect sizes are theoretically coherent and internally robust across ownership, competition intensity, and technology intensity subsamples. The paper contributes by reframing blockchain not merely as a traceability tool but as a coordination infrastructure for sustainable digital transformation, showing that environmental value emerges when technical transparency is combined with relational trust, manageable transaction design, and strategic learning orientation. The study offers a reproducible analytical template for future empirical research and practical guidance for manufacturers seeking to align digital transformation with sustainability performance.
