Nexus of circular economy and sustainable business performance in the era of digitalization

• Published in: International journal of productivity and performance management Vol. 71; no. 3; pp. 748 - 774
• Main Authors: Agrawal, Rohit, Wankhede, Vishal Ashok, Kumar, Anil, Upadhyay, Arvind, Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 15.02.2022; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Bibliometrics; Blockchain; Business models; Circular economy; Consumption; Context; Digital technology; Digitization; Environmental impact; Industry 4.0; Internet of Things; Keywords; Literature reviews; Manufacturing; Network analysis; Research methodology; Sustainability; Digitalization; Industry 4.0; Circular economy; Sustainable performance; Bibliometric; Smart manufacturing
• DOI: 10.1108/IJPPM-12-2020-0676
• ISSN: 1741-0401

PurposeThis study aims to conduct a comprehensive review and network-based analysis by exploring future research directions in the nexus of circular economy (CE) and sustainable business performance (SBP) in the context of digitalization.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review methodology was adopted to present the review in the field of CE and SBP in the era of digitalization. WOS and SCOPUS databases were considered in the study to identify and select the articles. The bibliometric study was carried out to analyze the significant contributions made by authors, various journal sources, countries and different universities in the field of CE and SBP in the era of digitalization. Further, network analysis is carried out to analyze the collaboration among authors from different countries.FindingsThe study revealed that digitalization could be a great help in developing sustainable circular products. Moreover, the customers' involvement is necessary for creating innovative sustainable circular products using digitalization. A move toward the product-service system was suggested to accelerate the transformation toward CE and digitalization.Originality/valueThe paper discusses digitalization and CE practices' adoption to enhance the SP of the firms. This work's unique contribution is the systematic literature analysis and bibliometric study to explore future research directions in the nexus of CE and SP in the context of digitalization. The present study has been one of the first efforts to examine the literature of CE and SBP integration from a digitalization perspective along with bibliometric analysis.