Organizational change towards the circular economy: A systematic review of the literature

Sophie Graessler*, Hannes Guenter, Simon B. de Jong, Klaus Henning

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal(Systematic) Review article peer-review

Abstract

Scholars have long studied how organizations can transition towards greater sustainability, but it is only recently that they have begun to investigate a fundamentally new stream in sustainability thinking: the circular economy paradigm. Instead of the ‘make-use-dispose’ approach of a linear economy, a circular economy aims at eliminating waste and avoiding damage to the environment by closing resource loops. Given the recent surge of scholarly interest in the ways in which organizations can change towards working in a more circular way, it is important and timely to verify what scholars have learnt, what remains contested, and what should be done next. To this end, we are reviewing literature on the emerging field of ‘Organizational Change towards a Circular Economy’ (OCCE). We identify and analyse research that sits at the interface of organizational change theory and the circular economy paradigm and provide a systematic literature review. Our review reveals consensus, ambiguities, and differences in the OCCE literature along three main dimensions of organizational change (i.e., content, process, and context). Furthermore, we develop a novel and encompassing conceptualization of OCCE as well as outline future research opportunities. Overall, our study brings together the growing but fragmented body of OCCE research and outlines scientific and practical avenues for making progress in a more unified and systematic way.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)556-579
Number of pages24
JournalInternational Journal of Management Reviews
Volume26
Issue number4
Early online date12 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

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