Organizational Change towards the Circular Economy: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Scholars have long studied how organizations respond to climate change but have only recently begun to investigate a fundamentally new stream in sustainability thinking, that is, the circular economy paradigm. Instead of the “make-use-dispose” approach of a linear economy, a circular economy aims at closing resource loops, reducing waste, and lowering damage to the environment. Given the recent surge of research interest in the ways in which organizations change towards a circular economy, it is important and timely to verify what we have learnt, what remains contested, and what to do next. To this end, we review the literature on the emerging field of “Organizational Change towards a Circular Economy” (OCCE). We identify and analyze research that sits at the interface of organizational change theory and circular economy and provide a systematic literature review. Our review reveals common themes and discrepancies along three main dimensions of organizational change (i.e., content, process, and context). We develop a novel and encompassing definition of OCCE, highlight shortcomings in the literature, and outline research opportunities. Overall, our study brings together the growing, but fragmented, OCCE research and outlines scientific and practical avenues for making progress in a more unified and systematic way.