Cooperative Decision Making of Supply Chain Members of Shipping Logistics Services Under the Background of Blockchain

Abstract

The supply chain of shipping logistics services is an important branch of logistics service supply chain. To ensure the effective operation of the supply chain and to solve problems such as asymmetric information, difficult data quality assurance, and uncontrollable transportation in shipping logistics services, blockchain technology are proposed to reduce information interaction problems. In view of the factors of information sharing and customers’ sensitivity to information quality, a tripartite evolutionary game model with the shipping company, the port and the freight forwarder as the research objects was established, and the cooperative decision making of node companies was discussed before and after the application of blockchain technology. Theoretical derivation and data analysis show that ports and freight forwarder in the supply chain of shipping logistics services dominated by shipping companies are less affected by information sharing and customers’ sensitivity to information quality. With the increase in the application of blockchain technology, when customers have lower expectations for information quality, shipping companies are more willing to cooperate actively. The willingness to cooperate actively between ports and shipping companies is increasing faster than when blockchain technology is not used. Therefore, shipping companies should encourage the active use of blockchain technology to reduce the degree of information sharing between ports and freight forwarder and the influences of customer expectations on shipping companies.