Collaboration or Betrayal?—Pharmaceutical Enterprises Integrity Supervision Strategies Under Blockchain Technology

ABSTRACT With the accelerated development of blockchain technology and its integration into industrial ecosystems, its application scope is broadening, attracting significant attention from global industries and governments. Especially the application of blockchain technology for information sharing in the pharmaceutical supply chain is a hot topic. While blockchain promotes collaboration among pharmaceutical enterprises, it also heightens the risk of information leakage to competitors or third parties. This paper explores the impact of government incentives, penalties, and new media reports on fostering cooperation within the pharmaceutical supply chain and addressing information leakage. An evolutionary game model involving pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmaceutical distributors, government regulators, and new media was constructed. The model's stable equilibrium points and the stability of strategy combinations were analyzed using Lyapunov's first method, with simulations conducted using Matlab 2023 to verify the effects of various decision variables on participant strategies. The findings indicate that, first of all, the government's increased punishment for dishonesty among pharmaceutical distributors can increase the willingness of manufacturers to choose cooperation strategies. Second, increased true new media reports boost the blockchain cooperation among manufacturers and distributors, which is inversely affected by the allure of distorted reporting. Third, reducing the costs of strict government supervise and enhancing the reputational influence of new media can deter dishonesty behavior among distributors. Finally, strict government supervision correlates positively with upper‐level governmental accountability, while rational blockchain cost subsidies enhance pharmaceutical information sharing, thereby fostering industry development. This paper contributes to the theoretical framework of integrity supervise in the pharmaceutical supply chain and offers strategic recommendations.