Stakeholder roles in blockchain-based safety management for closed-loop supply chains

Safety is a critical yet neglected dimension of sustainability in battery closed-loop supply chains. Circular economy practices within it introduce safety challenges that require coordination across stakeholders,making blockchain a promising enabler. However, effective blockchain implementation is hindered by unclear stakeholder roles.Drawing on stakeholder and resource dependence theories, this study applies the responsible, accountable, consulted, informed matrix with power and involvement dimensions to define stakeholder roles.Results show that upstream actors, investors and technology providers occupy responsible role; governments are accountable and downstream actors are informed. No stakeholder occupies the consulted role, reflecting the dominance of operational responsibility over advisory coordination at this early stage of blockchain integration. Perceptual differences further reveal ambiguity in stakeholder roles. These findings extend stakeholder theory by grounding salience in measurable resource-dependence dimensions, advance resource dependence theory by demonstrating its temporal dynamics across technology lifecycles, and offer practitioners a methodology for blockchain integration in supply chains.