Drivers and barriers of smart technologies for circular economy: Leveraging smart circular economy implementation to nurture companies' performance

Smart circular economy (SCE) is a clear intersection between a circular economy (CE) and digital technologies (DTs), such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cyber-physical systems, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The SCE notion is deemed useful for addressing myriad global issues and improving the sustainability performance of companies. Given the pressure to effectively address sustainability challenges and nurture firms' non-financial performance, SCE has seen a significant increase in academic research publications. Nevertheless, the diffusion of SCE practises has encountered many hurdles as the application of disruptive DTs poses significant challenges to companies. In addition, SCE faces the CE challenges too. The extant literature lacks a comprehensive investigation of scholarly articles on this topic. Therefore, this study investigates the drivers, enablers, and barriers to the diffusion of SCE. To fill this gap, we conducted an in-depth literature review of 87 articles gathered from Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar for citation chaining. This systematic literature review (SLR) classified five clusters for barriers and drivers. Existing research gaps in SCE have been identified, and future research avenues have been developed to illuminate the nuances of SCE implementation and diffusion. Finally, this paper presents a theoretical conceptual framework.

Automated summary

Smart Circular Economy (SCE) is the intersection between Circular Economy (CE) and digital technologies (DTs). It has the potential to address global issues and improve the sustainability performance of companies. However, the diffusion of SCE faces challenges due to the disruptive nature of DTs. This study conducted a literature review to investigate the drivers, enablers, and barriers to the diffusion of SCE, and proposed future research avenues.