Blockchain System Applications and Supply Chain Performance in the Retail Sector: Evidence from Carrefour Supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Blockchain technology has emerged as a strategic digital innovation with the potential to enhance supply chain transparency, coordination, process automation, and transaction integrity. Although blockchain adoption has accelerated across manufacturing, logistics, and financial services, empirical evidence on the operational value of specific blockchain capabilities within retail supply chains in emerging economies remains limited. This study examined the influence of blockchain system applications-synchronized data, consensus protocols, smart contracts, and data immutability - on supply chain performance using evidence from Carrefour Supermarkets in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and complemented by Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Institutional Theory, and Information Processing Theory. A positivist philosophy and descriptive-explanatory cross-sectional survey design were adopted. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 175 employees engaged in supply chain functions and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The regression model explained 35.2% of the variation in supply chain performance (R² = 0.352; Adjusted R² = 0.336). The findings revealed that synchronized data (β = 0.2217, p = 0.003), consensus protocols (β = 0.1860, p = 0.009), and smart contracts (β = 0.3198, p < 0.001) exerted positive and statistically significant effects on supply chain performance, while data immutability (β = 0.1185, p = 0.095) exhibited a positive but statistically insignificant influence. Smart contracts emerged as the strongest predictor, underscoring the strategic importance of blockchain-enabled process automation in enhancing operational efficiency and coordination. The study advances blockchain scholarship by conceptualizing blockchain as a multidimensional organizational capability rather than a single technological innovation and demonstrates that individual blockchain capabilities contribute differently to organizational performance. The findings extend current theoretical understanding of blockchain adoption in emerging economies and provide practical guidance for retail managers and policymakers seeking to strengthen supply chain resilience, operational efficiency, and digital transformation through targeted blockchain implementation.