Blockchain for Project and Construction Management; A Systematic and Scoping Literature Review

At this time in history that the world is becoming smaller every day due to globalization; it is important to achieve an acceptable degree of trust and confidence in any field; and blockchain can put the world on this path. Since there is no central authority governing blockchain, its decentralized nature can turn it into an appropriate platform for project management. Implementing blockchain eliminates project management bureaucracies and allows a single, unchangeable, controllable, and encrypted source to be accessible to everybody and extensible throughout the project life cycle. This approach is the key to achieve an integrated information system and is one of the important reasons for blockchain applicability as an ideal platform for project management and construction. This issue that using blockchain technology in project management will bring about capacities and capabilities has not yet been seriously addressed. Changing the management of construction projects by blockchain is just an idea for now. This study aims to identify the capacity and platforms for developing blockchain technology in project management and construction using systematic and scoping literature reviews. Moreover, it provides some suggestions about the development and improvement areas of this technology. The review results showed that in all areas of project management and construction, there are applications relevant to blockchain technology that confirm the gradual understanding of the significance and positive impact of this technology on enhancing project management and construction performance. According to the results, a major part of blockchain studies was focused on “program and project management”, and two fields of human resources and behavioural areas and research in project management and schools of thought with a share of less than 2% of existing studies were neglected.