TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards sustainable growth paths for work integration social enterprises in the circular economy
AU - Van Opstal, Wim
AU - Borms, Lize
AU - Brusselaers, Jan
AU - Bocken, Nancy
AU - Pals, Emma
AU - Dams, Yoko
N1 - Data will be made available on request.
PY - 2024/9/10
Y1 - 2024/9/10
N2 - An important presumed social impact of the circular economy (CE) is job-creation for vulnerable groups. This creates opportunities for Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), which are established to organize economic activities for workers with a distance to the labour market. In this paper, we identify challenges, opportunities, and sustainability aspects for WISEs in the CE. We apply Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model results and conduct 20 expert interviews, providing an empirical contribution to recent research agendas on the social impact of the CE and the role of WISEs in Circular Societies. Our results show that WISEs should not take job-creating opportunities of the CE for granted, most specifically in the business-to-business (B2B) markets they are active in. While WISEs conceive competitive advantages to perform core CE jobs, they need to develop organisational capabilities to convert this potential into high added value activities within regionally embedded circular value chains. When identifying conditions for sustainable growth paths, we reveal a strong interconnectedness between social, environmental, and economic dimensions. We recommend management professionals and policy makers to measure, validate, and communicate social and circularity outcomes and invest in partnerships along value chains and across policy domains.
AB - An important presumed social impact of the circular economy (CE) is job-creation for vulnerable groups. This creates opportunities for Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs), which are established to organize economic activities for workers with a distance to the labour market. In this paper, we identify challenges, opportunities, and sustainability aspects for WISEs in the CE. We apply Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model results and conduct 20 expert interviews, providing an empirical contribution to recent research agendas on the social impact of the CE and the role of WISEs in Circular Societies. Our results show that WISEs should not take job-creating opportunities of the CE for granted, most specifically in the business-to-business (B2B) markets they are active in. While WISEs conceive competitive advantages to perform core CE jobs, they need to develop organisational capabilities to convert this potential into high added value activities within regionally embedded circular value chains. When identifying conditions for sustainable growth paths, we reveal a strong interconnectedness between social, environmental, and economic dimensions. We recommend management professionals and policy makers to measure, validate, and communicate social and circularity outcomes and invest in partnerships along value chains and across policy domains.
KW - circular economy
KW - work integration social enterprises (WISEs)
KW - social economy
KW - organisational capabilities
KW - circular society
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143296
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143296
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 470
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 143296
ER -