A Systematic Literature Network Analysis of Existing Themes and Emerging Research Trends in Circular Economy

Does circularity mean environmental sustainability? Novel evidence from European countries

The objective of this research is to evaluate the effects of green economy initiatives (GEI) on environmental sustainability (ES) through empirical means. The degree of green economy efforts is measured using six different metrics: the percentage of circular material consumption (GEI_MA), municipal trash generation per person (GEI_MW), recycling waste performance (GEI_RW), and recycling and secondary raw materials-related patents (GEI_PA). The latter particularly comprises the biowaste (GEI_RB) and e-waste (GEI_RE) recycling shares. Our analysis, which included information gathered from 19 European nations from 2012 to 2019, shows that GEI_MW significantly improves EPI and ECO. On the other hand, there is no meaningful connection between ecological sustainability and GEI_PA. EPI is strongly positively impacted by GEI_MA and EPI and ECO are positively impacted by GEI_RW. Additionally, GEI_RB has a beneficial impact on EPI, HLT, and ECO, but GEI_RE has a considerable favorable impact on both HLT and ECO. These findings highlight how crucial it is for the government to fund R&D for green economy projects in order to achieve ecological sustainability.

Realizing the economic and circular potential of sharing business models by engaging consumers

Purpose

Today's sharing economy covers a variety of business models. This research aims to (1) identify dimensions along which sharing businesses may vary and (2) investigate how these dimensions influence consumer engagement while considering consumers' sustainability orientation.

Design/methodology/approach

This research relies upon a systematic literature review (n = 67 articles) to identify five sharing business dimensions: (1) ownership transfer, (2) professional involvement, (3) compensation, (4) digitalization and (5) community scope. A discrete choice conjoint experiment in the fashion industry is employed to investigate how these dimensions affect consumer engagement with sharing businesses (n = 383 participants).

Findings

The results suggest that ownership of tangible resources elicits more engagement than access to tangible resources for both consumers with a low sustainability orientation and consumers with a high sustainability orientation. Community scope also affects consumer engagement as reflected in more engagement towards sharing businesses with a local rather than a global scope. The presence of professional service providers, monetary compensation and a digital platform only induces engagement among consumers with a low sustainability orientation.

Originality/value

This research generates a better understanding of how sharing businesses can draw on business dimensions to engage consumers with different levels of sustainability orientation and, in turn, how sharing businesses can realize their economic and/or circular potential.

A bibliometric analysis of circular economy in the fields of business and economics: towards more action-oriented research

In this paper, we reveal and systemize development trends in the scientific field of the circular economy (CE). Our results imply that academic research on the CE focuses heavily on theoretical conceptualizations and technological solutions. However, these advancements alone are unlikely to help prevent from ecological collapse. With this observation in mind, we explore the potential held by a more relational, action-based approach to support a faster and more efficient transition from the linear economy to the CE. A useful combination of several bibliometric techniques gave us valuable references for re-focusing this area of science to adopt action-oriented research where a group of stakeholders collaborates and co-creates solutions. An analysis of valuable action-oriented CE studies reveals that scholars focus on the techno-economic aspect, where they develop ways to create optimal circular material and energy flows and co-design processes for products/services, as well as the organizational aspect, where they study self-sustainable community networks and participatory governance. We identify three research streams that would benefit from such action-oriented research for a faster practical implementation: sustainable supply chains, waste management, and business model innovation. A practice-based agenda is proposed to stimulate the scientific community to conduct future research on a CE that better supports companies.

The first two decades of Circular Economy in the 21st century: a bibliographic review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and map the main areas of the Circular Economy literature of the first two decades of 21st century, offering a broad vision about the growth of the theme during these years.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was divided into two stages: the first was a systematic review of literature and the second consisted on generation and analysis of bibliographic maps.

Findings

The publication indicates the prominence of China and European Union countries in the production of articles about Circular Economy. Furthermore, the topic is restricted to academic area, and that research on Circular Economy is still very focused on theory studies, even with exponential growth in the number of published articles about the theme since 2015. Finally, it also provides a collection of information as the principal authors, the most cited publications, citations, co-citations and countries that have most published beyond which are the most discussed topics.

Research limitations/implications

A possible limitation of the research is that it was performed only in the Scopus database. It may be suggested as future searches that other databases are included as well, and another suggestion is to reduce the time period between research samples due to the exponential increase in the number of publications and topics discussed lately.

Practical implications

The results of this paper can guide future researches about the development of Circular Economy during the next decades or years and serve as a facilitator for researchers and for managers that want to know more about the topic.

Originality/value

A mapping of the principal players and main discussions about Circular Economy made in the first two decades of the 21st century and an analysis about the growth and changes about the theme.

Circular Economy Business Models: a Repertoire of Theoretical Relationships and a Research Agenda

The shift towards a more resource efficient circular economy has become a necessity in the wake of current ecological, economic and social sustainability challenges. Mirroring circular-related developments in policy and business quarters, the circular economy literature is growing as a distinct field of academic enquiry. Yet, the conceptual and theoretical foundations of circular economy thinking need consolidation. Drawing from strategic management, sustainability transitions and systems theories, this article establishes some theoretical anchoring for circular economy business models. It finds that circular business models contribute to an understanding of both competitive advantage and the systemic nature of business. It also develops a future agenda for management research at the interface between the circular economy and business models.

Untapped Aspects of Innovation and Competition within a European Resilient Circular Economy. A Dual Comparative Study

The paper aims to develop—based on a particular dual comparative analysis that follows the current European concerns—the concepts of competitiveness and innovation as pillars uprighting companies’ resilience, creating ecoinnovative jobs and social inclusion. In their struggle to meet the Circular Economy principles and Green Deal objectives, the countries chosen for analyses—Romania and Serbia—have started implementing added-value blockchain concepts in their societies to thrive in the resilient European market and build empowered societies. According to the World Economic Forum Global Sources of Competitiveness, skills considered in our study refer to businesses’ versatility and societies’ innovation capability. Based on specific data provided by Eurostat, the results showed a correlation between the ecoinnovation index and R&D personnel by sector and helped design a regression model. Hence, we demonstrate that R&D creativity, once stimulated through innovative teaching, blooms, having positive effects at society and market levels as reflected in the ecoinnovation index. Furthermore, cluster analysis within E.U. innovation helped identify strengths and weaknesses, provided new grounds in applying innovation, and led to further recommendations.

Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis: Two Under-Utilized Tools for Informing E-Waste Management

The unprecedented technological development and economic growth over the past two decades has resulted in streams of rapidly growing electronic waste (e-waste) around the world. As the potential source of secondary raw materials including precious and critical materials, e-waste has recently gained significant attention across the board, ranging from governments and industry, to academia and civil society organizations. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the last decade of e-waste literature followed by an in-depth analysis of the application of material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e., two less commonly used strategic tools to guide the relevant stakeholders in efficient management of e-waste. Through a keyword search on two main online search databases, Scopus and Web of Science, 1835 peer-reviewed publications were selected and subjected to a bibliographic network analysis to identify and visualize major research themes across the selected literature. The selected 1835 studies were classified into ten different categories based on research area, such as environmental and human health impacts, recycling and recovery technologies, associated social aspects, etc. With this selected literature in mind, the review process revealed the two least explored research areas over the past decade: MFA and LCA with 33 and 31 studies, respectively. A further in-depth analysis was conducted for these two areas regarding their application to various systems with numerous scopes and different stages of e-waste life cycle. The study provides a detailed discussion regarding their applicability, and highlights challenges and opportunities for further research.

A Review of Reductionist versus Systems Perspectives towards ‘Doing the Right Strategies Right’ for Circular Economy Implementation

This systematic review examines the importance of a systems/holistic approach in analyzing and addressing the footprints/impacts of business-as-usual activities regarding the development of a circular economy (CE). Recent works on why current CE approaches have to be examined in terms of reductionist vs. systems perspectives are reviewed to tackle questions pertaining to the right or the wrong way of CE implementation. ‘Doing the right thing right’ is essential for sustainability—the ultimate goal of a CE, which must be viewed as a system to begin with. The limited reductionist approach overlooks and thus cannot prognosticate on the formidable unintended consequences that emerge from ‘doing the right things wrong’, consequences that become too costly to undo. The systems approach, being holistic, is complicated and difficult to pursue but open to exciting opportunities to integrate innovations in CE analysis and implementation. Complexity is an inherent downside of the systems approach. However, both approaches are complementary, as reductionist models can be combined to create a system of comprehensive analysis to correct the approach towards implementation of current CE initiatives. This review reports that advancements in systems analytical frameworks and tools are highly important for creating general guidelines on CE analysis and implementation.

Toward an Understanding of Family Business Sustainability: A Network-Based Systematic Review

Family business governance is an important issue for the sustainable development of economies worldwide due to its economic contribution. This review aims to offer a systematic overview of how prior studies explore the issue of family involvement within the broader corporate governance literature. By adopting a network-based perspective to visualize the research stream, this study provides meaningful insight into the key topics investigated, the patterns in the connections between critical papers, and the key players building the literature. Specifically, this paper makes three major contributions. First, our systematic review based on network analysis of keywords, citations, and authors enhances the understanding of how research on family involvement in the corporate governance literature is interconnected. Second, a large and extensive pool of corporate governance research on family involvement (947 papers) is employed to encompass research on family involvement from various academic disciplines under the umbrella of corporate governance. Third, by providing answers to questions such as “which journals should I read?”, “which keywords should I look for?”, “who are the leading scholars?”, “which journals are scholars publishing in?” and “what are emerging research trends?”, this study offers valuable implications for future research and meaningful guidelines for future studies in the field.

Influence of Inter-Firm Network Relationships on Circular Economy Eco-Innovation Adoption

Research has shown that inter-firm networks and relationships play a key role in innovation adoption; however, these concepts have not specifically been applied to study their role in the adoption of circular economy eco-innovations. This paper considers whether the embedded relationships within inter-firm networks also influence circular economy eco-innovation adoption. Using a historical case study of the REALCAR closed-loop recycling initiative, by Jaguar Land Rover, from 2013 to 2017, the paper conducted qualitative interviews to reconstruct the structure and nature of the relationships between Jaguar Land Rover and its suppliers. This was complemented with a network regression analysis to determine the influence of these relationships on the adoption and implementation decisions of the closed-loop recycling process by the suppliers of Jaguar Land Rover. The results show that Jaguar Land Rover’s relationship as a key customer, facilitation of knowledge sharing among peer suppliers, and resistance from suppliers impacted by changing supply chain relationships played a role in the adoption decisions and adoption timeframe of the REALCAR closed-loop recycling innovation. This has implications for companies and supply chains to consider leveraging the inter-firm relationships embedded in their supply chain networks to accelerate the adoption of circular economy eco-innovations.

Impact of Industry 4.0 on Sustainability—Bibliometric Literature Review

Nowadays, sustainability and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are trending concepts used in the literature on industrial processes. Industry 4.0 has been mainly addressed by the current literature from a technological perspective, overlooking sustainability challenges regarding this recent paradigm. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the state of the art of relations between sustainability and I4.0. The goal will be met by (1) mapping and summarizing existing research efforts, (2) identifying research agendas, (3) examining gaps and opportunities for further research. Web of Science, Scopus, and a set of specific keywords were used to select peer-reviewed papers presenting evidence on the relationship between sustainability and I4.0. To achieve this goal, it was decided to use a dynamic methodology called “systematic literature network analysis”. This methodology combines a systematic literature review approach with the analysis of bibliographic networks. Selected papers were used to build a reference framework formed by I4.0 technologies and sustainability issues. The paper contributes to the Sustainable Industry 4.0 reference framework with application procedures. It aims to show how I4.0 can support ideas of sustainability. The results showed that apart from a huge contribution to both concepts, many papers do not provide an insight into realization of initiatives to introduce Sustainable Industry 4.0.

The Function of Transition Brokers in the Regional Governance of Implementing Circular Economy—A Comparative Case Study of Six Dutch Regions

This paper addresses the question of which function systemic intermediaries (here called ‘transition brokers’) can fulfil in the regional governance of implementing a circular economy (CE). Empirical research on this issue is scarce. The conclusion, based on a comparative case study of six Dutch regions, is that transition brokers fulfil the function of system orchestration. They can enhance processes of change, build alliances, help create the necessary preconditions, and develop impactful circular initiatives from a neutral standpoint. In a multi-stakeholder setting, transition brokers fulfil a variety of roles, depending on time period, content, and context. Executing these roles requires a number of specific competencies, varying from being entrepreneurially minded to daring to leave one’s comfort zone and being able to get the idea of CE accepted in a variety of businesses and organisations. From interviews held with key transition brokers in the six regions, it transpired that there is a clear division of labour between transition brokers vis-à-vis other key actors, among which the local government is included. These findings allow the design of a new model of regional governance in implementing CE from a system level perspective. It is recommended to perform similar case studies in other countries to generalise the results presented here.

Circular Economy Innovation and Environmental Sustainability Impact on Economic Growth: An Integrated Model for Sustainable Development

This study examines the link between selected indicators of a circular economy, including essential components of environmental and economic growth. Developed economies are continuously innovating to promote growth and giving governmental support to the producers to move from linear economies to circular ones. Hence, waste materials in industrial systems are recycled or re-used, improving the efficiency of using finite resources with the no-waste approach. The aim of this paper is the following: (1) to identify the main components of a circular economy, which are also supportive of sustainability and development; (2) to check the impact of these variables in the economic growth of European Union countries; (3) to find out if the three components of sustainable development adopted to circular economy (CE) indicators (environmental–social–economic) are significant to economic growth. We used a fixed effect panel data analysis to identify the circular economy’s impact on the economic growth of European countries. Additionally, to support the results of the regression analysis, we employed a second method—generalized methods of moments—computing the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation method. The model included five independent variables, such as environmental tax rate, a recycling rate of waste, private investment and jobs in a circular economy, patents related to recycling, and trade of recyclable raw materials. The identification of each variable was made based on a deep search through literature. The results of both econometric models showed a strong and positive correlation between a circular economy to economic growth, highlighting the crucial role of sustainability, innovation, and investment in no-waste initiatives to promote wealth.