Opportunities for disruptive digital technologies to ensure circularity in supply Chain: A critical review of drivers, barriers and challenges

The circular economy (CE) concept has gained significant attention to deal with the sustainability challenges in supply chain (SC). CE practices offers innovative approaches to optimize various SC processes leading to sus-tainable growth. However, adoption of CE practices faces many roadblocks where application of disruptive digital technologies can be a game changer. The extant literature lacks the investigation on drivers, enablers, critical barriers, and challenges in adopting disruptive digital technologies along with CE practices in SC. To fill this lacuna, an in-depth state-of-the-art of review of 187 articles has been conducted which resulted in the identification of 49 drivers and enablers, and 25 barriers and challenges. Furthermore, a framework has been proposed to elucidate the connection between disruptive digital technologies and CE performance in SC. Our review reveals that digital technology enabled CE practices helps to improve several performance metrics like resource optimization, waste reduction, product life cycle, occupational health, social performance, product safety and quality, and customer loyalty and satisfaction. The proposed framework will help industry practi-tioners, researchers, and policy makers in devising strategies for adopting disruptive digital technologies enabled CE practices in SC to achieve sustainability.

Automated summary

The concept of circular economy (CE) is gaining attention as a solution to sustainability challenges in supply chains (SC). CE practices offer innovative approaches to optimize SC processes and achieve sustainable growth. However, the adoption of CE practices faces obstacles that can be overcome with the application of disruptive digital technologies. This article presents a comprehensive review of 187 articles, identifying 49 drivers and enablers, as well as 25 barriers and challenges in adopting disruptive digital technologies and CE practices in SC. A framework is proposed to demonstrate the connection between disruptive digital technologies and CE performance, highlighting improvements in resource optimization, waste reduction, product life cycle, occupational health, social performance, product safety and quality, and customer loyalty and satisfaction. This framework will aid industry practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in developing strategies for adopting disruptive digital technologies and achieving sustainability in SC.