A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF INDUSTRY 4.0 TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS IN MALAYSIAN ESTATE DISTRIBUTION

Abstract

The dual legal system and the abundance of agencies responsible for inheritance, wills, Islamic asset management, and Muslim estate distribution in Malaysia often result in administrative delays and disputes. Against this background, Industry 4.0 technologies particularly blockchain have been recognized in both academia and practice as transformative tools for streamlining real estate and estate distribution processes. This study aims to evaluate the blockchain-based frameworks proposed in the reviewed studies. A systematic literature review was conducted on publications from 2019 to 2023 using Scopus and other databases, resulting in the inclusion of eighteen papers that met the defined quality and relevance criteria. The reviewed studies adopted methodologies such as interviews, theoretical, experimental, systematic literature review, case study, legal, and holistic approaches. Moreover, the proposed blockchain-based models in the reviewed studies were categorized into five types: digital land registration, inheritance, consensus algorithms, smart real estate buying or selling, and commercial real estate management frameworks. Based on these findings, the study further proposes a conceptual framework linking blockchain affordances (decentralized ledger, smart contract, integrity, transparency, security, immutability, interoperability, integrated, efficiency, cryptographic, and tamper-proof) to key challenges in Malaysia’s dual legal estate distribution system (overlapping jurisdiction between Civil and Shariah High Court, lack of transparency about the entitlement of heirs, conflict of laws and rights, disputes in transfer of ownership, and data fragmentation between agencies that reduce efficiency). This framework provides a theoretical and policy-relevant foundation for future model development aimed at achieving a more transparent, efficient, and Shariahcompliant estate administration process.