Integration of blockchain in contract management for prevention of construction disputes: a systematic literature review and conceptual framework

Certainty, commitment, and communication are essential requirements which seem to be eluding the existing contracting process giving rise to claims and disputes. Contract management practices continue to be manual and traditional despite the digital and technological developments in construction sector. Blockchain technology is increasingly used in different aspects of the business world with its intrinsic qualities of transparency and security. This research conducts systematic literature reviews in three areas aiming to: analyse the chronic problem of construction disputes, investigate recent methods and tools of contractual dispute avoidance, and provide a compelling rationale for the integration of blockchain technology into the contracting process. While the 'contract-related' issues were found to be the leading cause of disputes, a 'centralized' hierarchy-based environment was established as one of the key challenges to dispute avoidance mechanisms. Discussion followed by feedback survey from industry experts further validated the literature review results. Based on the findings, an integrated blockchain-based conceptual framework is proposed illustrating a contracting process that is: (1) efficient and transparent; (2) digitally integrated; and (3) trustworthy and secure in execution. The study reviews the existing practices and challenges in contract management and offers an interdisciplinary and novel approach for future research in this domain.