A Review of Circularity Indicators and Psychological Factors: a Comprehensive Analysis of Circularity Practices in Organizations
Abstract
Introduction. In a booming global economy of finite resources, pandemics, armed conflict and irresponsible over-consumption, attention to the nature of finite resources becomes imperative. The transition to a circular economic model lies at the intersection of economic development and environmental protection needs, significantly impacting today's society and future generations. Research and understanding of the circular economy are catalysts for accelerating processes to change the current unsustainable paradigm. This study reviews the literature and identifies how circularity indicators are addressed at the organisational level.
Aim and tasks. The study aims to review and synthesise the literature on micro-level circular indicators, psychological factors, and relevant theories in the context of organisational performance, as well as identify knowledge gaps and ways the two elements can be integrated into the circularity assessment.
Results. The study shows no universally accepted method to measure the circular economy at the organisational level. Most indicators focus only on the environment, ignoring the social dimension, while many indicators in the literature are not standardized and cannot be compared. It has also been identified that the social component needs to be better represented, with all the attention focused on the environment. Within the social component, organisational psychology (organisational culture, satisfaction, attitudes, leadership, motivation, and employee well-being) is almost not represented in the studies and indicators, as they are highly relevant to the social component.
Conclusions. This systematic review provides an overview of existing indicators and measurement tools at the organisational level. Following the analysis and results presented above, it can be said that although underexplored, the social dimension of the circular economy has begun to attract attention in the literature. The present research highlights the relevance of the social aspect in the circular economy and suggests that it has been undervalued in research to date. Irrespective of the specific areas of interest of different studies, there is a growing need for a more comprehensive understanding of the social impact of the circular economy, which would include all aspects of social life, from jobs and education to civic engagement and behaviour change.
Keywords:
circular economy, organizational psychology, circular indicators, social impact, environment.References
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Bîrgovan, A. L., Lakatos, E. S., Szilagyi, A., Cioca, L. I., Pacurariu, R. L., Ciobanu, G., & Rada, E. C. (2022). How should we measure? A review of circular cities indicators. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), 5177. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095177
Bjørn, A., & Hauschild, M. Z. (2018). Cradle to cradle and LCA. In Life Cycle Assessment (pp. 605–631). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_25
Boston Consulting Group. (2020). CIRCelligence by BCG – It's Time to Close Our Future Resource Loops. https://www.bcg.com/circelligence-by-bcg-close-future-loops
Brunner, P. H., & Rechberger, H. (2016). Handbook of material flow analysis: For environmental, resource, and waste engineers. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315313450
Burritt, R. L., Hahn, T., & Schaltegger, S. T. (2002). Towards a comprehensive framework for environmental management accounting — Links between business actors and environmental management accounting tools. Australian Accounting Review, 12(27), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1835-2561.2002.TB00202.X
Calzolari, T., Genovese, A., & Brint, A. (2022). Circular economy indicators for supply chains: A systematic literature review. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 13, 100160.
Celades, I., Ros, T., Rocha, C., Camocho, D., Schmidt, K., Pamminger, R., ... & Chulvi, V. (2017). KATCH_e: Introducing circular economy into higher-education design curricula. Proceedings of the 18th European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Skiathos, Greece, 1-5.
De Oliveira, C. T., Dantas, T. E. T., & Soares, S. R. (2021). Nano and micro level circular economy indicators: Assisting decision-makers in circularity assessments. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 26, 455-468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2020.11.024
De Pascale, A., Arbolino, R., Szopik-Depczyńska, K., Limosani, M., & Ioppolo, G. (2021). A systematic review for measuring circular economy: The 61 indicators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 281, 124942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124942
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Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2015). Circulytics—Measuring circularity. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
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Eurostat. (2021). Circular economy. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
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Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 114, 11–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2015.09.007
Higgins, J. P., Altman, D. G., Gøtzsche, P. C., Jüni, P., Moher, D., Oxman, A. D., ... & Sterne, J. A. (2011). The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. BMJ, 343. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d5928.
Hoffman, A. J., & Bazerman, M. H. (2007). Changing practice on sustainability: Understanding and overcoming the organizational and psychological barriers to action. Organizations and the sustainability mosaic: Crafting long-term ecological and societal solutions, 84-105.
Hunkeler, D., Lichtenvort, K., & Rebitzer, G. (2008). Environmental life cycle costing. CRC Press.
Inedit. (2020). Self-assessment. https://circular.ineditinnova.com/
ISO. (2006). Environmental management-Life cycle assessment-Requirements and guidelines. ISO 14044.
Kitchenham, B. (2004). Procedures for performing systematic reviews. Keele, UK, Keele University, 33(2004), 1-26.
Kjaer, L.L., Pigosso, D.C. A., Niero, M., Bech, N.M., & McAloone, T.C. (2019). Product/Service-Systems for a circular economy: The route to decoupling economic growth from resource consumption? Journal of Industrial Ecology, 23(1), 22–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/JIEC.12747
Kristensen, H. S., & Remmen, A. (2019). A framework for sustainable value propositions in product-service systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 223, 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.074.
Life Cycle Assessment Technical Committee ISO/TC 207. (2006). ISO 14040: 2006 Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Principles and Framework.
Manuti, A., & Giancaspro, M. L. (2019). People make the difference: An explorative study on the relationship between organizational practices, employees’ resources, and organizational behavior enhancing the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development. Sustainability, 11(5), 1499.
Meursing, M. (2015). Sustainability Inspired Materials Selection App for Designers. TU Delft University.
Mies, A., & Gold, S. (2021). Mapping the social dimension of the circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 321, 128960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128960.
Mondragon University. (2020). ‘CIRCULARTRANS’. https://circulartrans.mondragon.edu/en/home
Moraga, G., Huysveld, S., Mathieux, F., Blengini, G. A., Alaerts, L., Van Acker, K., ... & Dewulf, J. (2019). Circular economy indicators: What do they measure? Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 146, 452-461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.03.045.
Niewczas-Dobrowolska, M., & Górka-Chowaniec, A. (2023). High food quality by consumers in three time frames – before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology Organization and Management Series, 2023(180). https://doi.org/10.29119/1641-3466.2023.180.23
Pacurariu, R. L., Vatca, S. D., Lakatos, E. S., Bacali, L., & Vlad, M. (2021). A critical review of EU key indicators for the transition to the circular economy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(16), 8840. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168840
Padilla-Rivera, A., Russo-Garrido, S., & Merveille, N. (2020). Addressing the social aspects of a circular economy: A systematic literature review. Sustainability, 12(19), 7912. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197912.
PCDS. (2020). Product circularity data sheet. https://pcds.lu
Rosen, M. A., & Di Fabio, A. (2023). Psychology of sustainability and sustainable development in organizations: empirical evidence from environment to safety to innovation and future research. In Psychology of sustainability and sustainable development in organizations (pp. 20-41). Routledge.
Sacco, P., Vinante, C., Borgianni, Y., & Orzes, G. (2021). Circular economy metrics: Literature review and company-level classification framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 288, 125090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125090.
Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y., & Cluzel, F. (2017). How to assess product performance in the circular economy? Proposed requirements for the design of a circularity measurement framework. Recycling, 2(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling2010006.
Saidani, M., Yannou, B., Leroy, Y., Cluzel, F., & Kendall, A. (2019). A taxonomy of circular economy indicators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 207, 542–559. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2018.10.014
Sassanelli, C., Rosa, P., Rocca, R., & Terzi, S. (2019). Circular economy performance assessment methods: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 229, 440-453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.019.
Stewart, R., & Niero, M. (2018). Circular economy in corporate sustainability strategies: A review of corporate sustainability reports in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(7), 1005-1022, 10.1002/bse.2048.
Technical University of Denmark. (2021). Ready2LOOP. https://ready2loop.org/
Technology Industries of Finland. (2020). Circular Economy Playbook | Technology Industries. https://teknologiateollisuus.fi/en/node/27205
Tecnun. (2017). School of Engineering, University of Navarra. https://en.tecnun.unav.edu/
UNEP. (2020). Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products and Organisations 2020. https://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.11822/34554
Vallance, S., Perkins, H. C., & Dixon, J. E. (2011). What is social sustainability? A clarification of concepts. Geoforum, 42(3), 342–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GEOFORUM.2011.01.002
Vinante, C., Sacco, P., Orzes, G., & Borgianni, Y. (2021). Circular economy at the firm level: A new tool for assessing maturity and circularity. Sustainability, 13(9), 5288. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095288.
Wackernagel, M., & Beyers, B. (2019). Ecological footprint: Managing our biocapacity budget. New Society Publishers.
WBCSD. (2004). World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The greenhouse gas protocol. A corporate accounting and reporting standard, Rev. ed. Washington, DC, Conches-Geneva.
WBCSD. (2018). World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Reporting matters 2018. Retrieved from https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/Redefining-Value/Reporting-matters/Resources/Reporting-matters-2018
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). (2020). Circular transition indicators. https://www.wbcsd.org/Programs/Circular-Economy/Metrics-Measurement/Circular-transition-indicators
Published
2024-03-30
How to Cite
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Birgovan, A. L.; Lakatos, E. S.; Nita, V.; Sim, A. A Review of Circularity Indicators and Psychological Factors: A Comprehensive Analysis of Circularity Practices in Organizations. Economics Ecology Socium 2024, 8, 16-26.
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