Production Decision and Blockchain Introduction Strategy of New Energy Vehicle Enterprises Considering Consumer Quality Distrust

Blockchain technology is introduced into the supply chain of new energy vehicles (NEV) in response to the phenomenon of consumer distrust in the quality of NEV. By constructing decision models of the supplier and manufacturer not adopting blockchain / adopting blockchain, we analyse the impact of consumers’ quality distrust, consumers’ quality preference, and the unit operational cost of blockchain on the innovation decision of enterprises, and reveal the value of blockchain's application in the innovation of NEV supply chain. The study found that consumers’ quality distrust leads to a decline in product quality level, market demand, and the profits of supplier and manufacturer, while the introduction of blockchain can enhance consumer quality preference and attenuate the negative impact of consumers’ quality distrust. However, adopting blockchain does not always bring more benefits to supply chain members. The supplier and manufacturer have an incentive to adopt blockchain if consumer distrust is high or operational cost is low. Furthermore, cost thresholds increase in consumer's quality distrust. With government subsidy, the adoption of blockchain can promote the improvement of product quality and increase the demand for products, and obtain higher social welfare.