Engaging Organizations and their Stakeholders with Circularity
(A2025-126057)

AUTHORS

AD DE JONG, Copenhagen Business School

ABSTRACT

The rising awareness of climate challenges and resource constraints has strengthened interest in the circular economy (CE), characterized as an economic system aimed to minimize the depletion of the world’s natural resources through processes of value retention and value regeneration. Because CE research originated in the engineering field, studies to date have mostly focused on technical and management-related topics. Business practitioners, however, are still struggling with the efficient and effective implementation of the CE principles, that is regenerating natural systems, designing out waste and pollution, and keeping products in use at their highest levels. This Special Session aims to involve the EMAC audience in a debate on how (service) marketers and other business practitioners can engage their organization and/or ecosystem with customers and other stakeholders into the circular transition by presenting four different papers as a conversation starter. These papers act as conversation starters by adopting a different theoretical perspective and doing different types of research in different empirical contexts, as outlined in the Table 1 below. Table 1: Overview of the paper presentations Four papers as conversation starter -Theoretical perspective -Methodological approach -Empirical context -Questions for the EMAC audience Paper 1 “Implementing the Circular Economy: A Service Innovation Perspective” -Implementing the CE principles by adopting a service innovation lens -Case study research on the design and implementation of a CE-based business -United Kingdom and Denmark -What other theoretical perspectives contribute to effectively implementing CE principles?, What research methods contribute to gaining insight into the implementation of CE principles?, What empirical contexts offer interesting insights on the implementation of CE principles? Paper 2 “Managing Linear and Circular Business Models in Parallel” -Implementing the CE principles through organizational learning in circular transitions -Systematic literature review on organizations managing linear and circular business models in parallel -Different continents Paper 3 “Reorienting service ecosystems towards circular economy through circularity work” -Implementing the CE principles through institutional work for circularity -In-depth interviews with actors involved in CE projects within service ecosystems -Norwegian Paper 4 “Engaging Actors in the Circular Economy: Development of a Circular Economy Engagement (CEE) Scale” -Implementing the CE principles by monitoring CE engagement by organizations -Survey research among owners, CEOs, and managers of organizations -Belgium Altogether, the selected set of papers provide four perspectives on tackling challenges that can jeopardize the efficiency and effectiveness of implementing the CE principles across a broad range of contexts. By doing so, this Special Session does not only contribute to a better understanding of the CE principles and their implementation among the EMAC participants, but also stimulate engaging discussions on novel perspectives on engaging organizations and their ecosystems in transitions to a more circular and sustainable solutions for customers while outlining opportunities for future research.