Measuring the Electronic Readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration to Implement Blockchain Technology in the Supply Chain

This research develops a novel, multi-dimensional model to investigate the electronic readiness of customs organisations for adopting blockchain technology. Recognising Customs’ pivotal role in global trade facilitation, this model systematically assesses an organisation’s preparedness across five critical dimensions: organisational, individual, technological, environmental, and managerial. This framework offers a robust tool for evaluating the key factors influencing the successful integration of blockchain within customs operations. The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration serves as a specific case study, demonstrating the model’s applicability in a real-world context. Employing a descriptive and exploratory approach, 44 customs managers and IT professionals and 17 blockchain experts participated in the case study. Data collection involved both literature reviews and field methods, with a researcher-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire data were analysed statistically. Literature reviews and interviews with blockchain specialists informed the dimensions and criteria for the questionnaires. Subsequently, paired comparison questionnaires gathered insights from blockchain community managers and laboratory experts of the Sharif Blockchain Laboratory. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was employed to analyse this data, determining the relative weights of each criterion and sub-criterion.