Expanding conceptual boundaries of the sustainable supply chain management and circular economy nexus

Samuel D. Allen*, Qingyun Zhu, Joseph Sarkis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has been developed for decades as a solution for multi-level social and environmental improvement. Circular economy (CE) also has many perspectives and generally has been introduced for investigating sustainability at multiple levels. Organizations are informed and encouraged by management theories to build their supply chain strategies at the SSCM-CE nexus, including stakeholder theory, institutional theory, nature resource-based view, amongst others. As the scholarly and practical interests in SSCM and CE increase, there is a need to expand the current conceptual understanding and theoretical boundaries. Theory development for broader issues at the SSCM-CE nexus is limited, leaving managers, policy makers, civil society activists, and other stakeholders with insufficient grounding for important decisions and direction. In this paper, we explore some promising emerging theories which may provide additional conceptual lenses for SSCM and CE, inlcuding organizational learning, social innovation, and social learning. We develop a dynamic sustainable supply chain-circular economy management framework as a conceptual map over which theoretical boundaries from the existing and emergent theories are overlaid. Future research directions are also provided and discussed to conclude this paper.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100011
Peer-reviewed scientific journalCleaner Logistics and Supply Chain
Volume2
ISSN2772-3909
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12.10.2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article - refereed

Keywords

  • 512 Business and Management
  • sustainable supply chain management
  • circular economy
  • systems thinking
  • theory development

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